^STUDIES  IN 
SHAKESPEARE 

{First  Series) 


HOMER  B.  S  PRAGUE 


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ITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


THE  GIFT  OF 

MAY  TREAT  MORRISON 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

ALEXANDER  F  MORRISON 


Other  Works 
by 

Homer  B.  Sprague,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 


History    of    the     Thirteenth     Connecticut 
Infantry    Regiment. 

Treatise  on  Voice  and  Gesture. 

Shakespeare's  Alleged    Blunders    in    Legal 
Terminology. 

Mystery    of    Undeserved   SufTering    in    the 
Light  of   Evolution. 

Metrical  Version  of  The  Book  of  Job. 

Lights      and      Shadows      in     Confederate 
Military  Prisons. 

Annotated  English  Masterpieces. 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


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Studies  in  Shakespeare 

(First  Series) 

By 
HOMER  B.  SPRAGUE,  M.A.,  PH.D.,  LL.D. 

Sometime  Principal  of  the  Public  High  School, 
Worcester,  Mass.  and  the  Adelphi  Academy, 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Nine  years  Head  Master  of 
the  Girls'  High  School,  Boston,  Mass.  President 
of   Mills  College,  California 


Also 

STUDENT 

PROFESSOR 

AND   PRESIDENT  IN 

THE  UNIVERSITIES  of 

YALE,  CORNELL  AND 
NORTH  DAKOTA 

respectively 


THE    PILGRIM    PRESS 

BOSTON  NEW  YORK  CHICAGO 


Copyright  1916 
By  Homer  B.  Sprague 


THE  PILGRIM  PRESS 
BOSTON 


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0^ 


To  the 
many  thousands 
S>  of  students  still  using  my 

M  annotated  texts  or  who  during 

*  the    last    forty   years   have    listened 

patiently  to  my  talks  on  the  higher 

English  Literature 

this  little   book  is 
affectionately 


2  dedicated 


oc 
S 
u. 
O 

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■434567 


Preface 

What  need  of  adding  another  book  on  Shake- 
speare to  the  thousands  that  already  cumber  our 
Hbrary  shelves?  None  indeed,  unless  something 
should  be  stated  or  emphasized  that  is  either  not 
well  enough  known  or  not  sufficiently  appreciated. 
Both  considerations  move  the  present  author  to 
offer  these  four  Studies. 

1.  Of  the  foundations  of  Shakespeare's  greatness 
we  cannot  claim  that  there  have  been  new  dis- 
coveries; but  a  careful  grouping  of  the  ascertained 
facts  in  regard  to  his  father's  family  and  his  own 
early  environment  warrants  the  assertion  that  the 
first  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  the  boy's  life  were 
passed  in  the  midst  of  influences  calculated  to 
awaken  and  foster  his  ambition.  Reasoning  from 
effect  to  cause,  we  have  a  right  to  infer  that  he 
was  from  childhood  an  intense  worker,  and  soon  a 
book  student  of  extraordinary  diligence. 

2.  Such  a  youth  —  a  mind  omnivorous  and  all- 
assimilating  —  impelled  by  a  threefold  motive  of 
knowledge,  culture,  and  expression  —  moving  in  a 
realm  of  the  highest  ideals  —  is  especially  liable  to 
be  fascinated  by  female  beauty.  Hence  his  marriage 
to  a  woman  seven  or  eight  years  his  senior,  a  step 
proper  enough  provided  either  had  the  means  of 
supporting   a    family.     Incidentally   a   law   student, 

[9] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

good  evidence  is  given  that  he  became  a  sort  of 
schoolmaster.  The  suggestion  is  made  that  Anne 
was  his  private  pupil,  matrimonial  '  conjugation  ' 
supervening  as  naturally  as  when  Lucentio  in  The 
Taming  of  the  Shrew  taught  the  beautiful  Bianca. 
No  myth  nor  miracle  nor  external  aid  needed  in 
the  solution  of  the  Shakespeare  problem. 

3.  The  soldier  stage  comes  next  after  the  lover's. 
The  evidence  that  young  Shakespeare  was  clerk 
at  headquarters  and  otherwise  saw  much  of  military 
life  is  cumulative,  and  the  documentary  proof  is 
almost  if  not  quite  conclusive. 

4.  The  study  of  the  plays  reveals  the  fact  that 
his  superiority  consists  not  at  all  in  the  originality 
of  the  plots,  but  largely,  if  not  chiefly,  in  the  crea- 
tion of  characters.  His  skill  in  making  many  of 
these  originate  or  color  for  themselves  a  sympa- 
thetic environment  is  unequaled.  He  appears  the 
keenest,  broadest,  wisest,  best-informed  of  ob- 
servers. Few  if  any  are  so  tolerant  as  he.  Spon- 
taneity and  splendor  mark  his  earlier  plays;  depth 
and  strength  his  later.  Matchless  language-form  — 
blended  truth,  imagery,  sentiment,  personification 
—  are  claimed  for  him.  Vividness  and  frequency  of 
prosopopoeia  are  a  superlative  excellence.  Super- 
added to  these  and  perhaps  other  instances  of  pre- 
eminence, are  his  wit  and  humor,  his  philosophic 
insight,  practical  wisdom,  and  power  of  portraying 
deep  and  varied  emotion.  Milton's  eulogium  is 
decisive. 

[10] 


Contents 


Preface 


Page 


STUDIES  IN  SHAKESPEARE 

I.  Shakespeare's     Cradle     and     School; 

a    Study    of    His    Early    Environ- 
ment and  His  Genius  for  Labor      .  13 

II.  Shakespeare's     Early     Manhood;      a 

Study  of  his  Marriage,   Pedagogy, 

Law,  and  Foundations     ....  55 

III.  Shakespeare's     Sword     and     Musket; 

a  Study  of   the   Military   Element 

in  the  Man  and  His  Dramas     .      .  105 

IV.  Shakespeare's     Wand     and     Sceptre; 

a   Study   of    His    Imagination    and 
Points  of  Superiority        ....  159 

Index 209 


111 


Study  I 
Shakespeare^s  Cradle  and  School 


Far  from  the  sun  and  summer  gale, 
In  thy  green  lap  was  Nature's  darling  laid, 
What  time  where  lucid  Avon  strayed, 

To  him  the  mighty  mother  did  unveil 
Her  awful  face.     The  dauntless  child 
Stretched  forth  his  little  arms  and  smiled. 
"  This  pencil  take,"  she  said,   "  whose  colors  clear 
Richly  paint  the  vernal  year: 
Thine  too  these  golden  keys,  immortal  Boy! 
This  can  unlock  the  gates  of  joy; 
Of  horror  that,  and  thrilling  fears, 
Or  ope  the  sacred  source  of  sympathetic  tears." 

— The  Progress  of  Poesy,  by  Thomas  Gray  (1754). 


STUDY  I 
SHAKESPEARE'S  CRADLE  AND  SCHOOL 

A    STUDY   OF   HIS    EARLY    ENVilJON!.IENT   AND   HIS 
GENIUS   FOR   LA.BOF:        .'."■.!•  .'. 

Many  years  ago,  at  the  beginning  of  one  of  my 
long  summer  vacations,  I  sat  down  to  ascertain  if 
I  could  what  sort  of  person  William  Shakespeare 
in  his  childhood  and  youth  was,  and  what  founda- 
tion, if  any,  was  then  laid  for  his  greatness.  I 
discarded  preconceived  theories,  took  little  or 
nothing  for  granted,  endeavored  to  verify,  so  far 
as  practicable,  the  truth  of  every  alleged  fact,  and 
to  weigh,  accepting  or  rejecting,  all  the  customary 
conclusions.  A  rather  bold,  even  audacious  at- 
titude, some  one  will  say,  yet  often  the  correct 
one  for  a  student  —  certainly  in  line  with  the 
apostolic  injunction,  "  Prove  all  things;  hold 
fast  that  which  is  good." 

In  this  and  other  studies  of  Shakespeare  I 
present  some  of  the  results  at  which  I  then  and 
subsequently  arrived.  I  shall  not  be  so  fortunate 
as  to  induce  all  my  readers  to  agree  with  me  in  my 
findings:  I  hope  many  of  them  will  do  something 
better  than  that.  Mrs.  Browning  well  says  in 
Aurora  Leigh, 

"  Get  work  in  this  world; 
Be  sure  't  is  better  than  what  you  work  to  get." 

[15] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Right  habits  of  thought,  mental  growth,  discipline, 
broader  horizons,  new  worlds  of  truth  into  which 
you  enter,  more  joyous  appreciation  of  the  wealth 
of  literature;  above  all,  inspiration  to  higher  living 
—  these  are  bettt^r  far  than  any  accumulation  of 
facts  and  formulae.  If  you  gain  any  of  these 
benefits,  even  if-ycu.dp  not  concur  with  me  at  all 
after  testing  the  authenticity  of  my  facts  or  the 
soundness  of  my  conclusions,  I  ought  to  be  satis- 
fied. Of  course  I  believe  both  to  be  correct;  but 
verify  is  the  word;  "  Prove  all  things;  hold  fast 
that  which  is  good." 

In  this  regard  we  are  fortunate  in  our  subject; 
for,  as  Halliwell-Phillipps  affirms,  "  There  is  hardly 
anything  in  Shakespearian  criticism  that  is  settled 
beyond  perad venture."  On  many  interesting  points 
there  is  abundant  room  for  differences  of  opinion.^ 
Here,  as  in  almost  all  history,  we  have  to  balance 
probabilities. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  research  of  scholars  and 
antiquaries  —  and  no  man  in  modern  times  has 
been  the  subject  of  more  investigation  —  Shake- 
speare is  still  a  myth  to  some,  a  miracle  to  many, 
a  mystery  to  all.  Certainly  the  history  of  litera- 
ture presents  no  other  instance  of  a  mind  begin- 
ning so  low  and  climbing  so  high.  It  used  to  be 
said  that  neither  his  father  nor  his  mother  could 
write.^     However    that    may    have    been,    he    was 

[16] 


Cradle  and  School 

certainly  of  humble  birth;  yet,  in  spite  of  adverse 
circumstances,  by  that  force  of  being  which  we  call 
genius,  he  somehow  rose  to  an  eminence  so  lofty 
that  few  if  any  of  our  race  stand  beside  him  in 
royalty  of  intellect;  and  from  that  crowning  sum- 
mit it  is  perhaps  safe  to  say  that  with  eye  at  once 
microscopic  and  telescopic  he  directed  a  more 
searching  glance  and  commanded  a  vaster  horizon 
than  any  other  man. 

Every  item  of  information  in  regard  to  such 
a  person  should  be  of  interest,  may  be  of  value. 
This  must  be  my  apology,  if  any  be  needed,  for 
stating  facts  which  in  the  case  of  almost  any  other 
author  might  be  deemed  trivial. 

We  are  told  that  he  was  of  pure  English  blood, 
and  this  statement  is  explained  to  mean  that  he 
was  half  Saxon  and  half  Norman,  or,  as  Lowell 
poetically  puts  it,  "  One  lobe  of  Shakespeare's 
brain  was  Normanly  refined,  and  the  other  Saxonly 
sagacious."  It  has  been  commonly  said  that  he 
was  Saxon  by  the  father,  Norman  or  French  by 
the  mother.  It  is  just  possible  that  the  reverse 
may  have  been  the  fact;  for  critics  have  arisen 
who  argue  ingeniously  that,  although  "  Shake- 
speare "  is  an  old  Warwickshire  word  and  looks  as 
if  it  were  of  unmistakable  Saxon  etymology,  yet  it 
appears  in  the  reign  of  Exlward  III  as  a  corruption 
of  the  French  "  Jacques  Pierre  "  (Jacob  Stone,  or 
James    Peter),    and    that    the    mother's    surname 

[17] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

"  Arden  or  de  Ardern  "  (Celtic  meaning  Wood) 
was  adopted  by  the  Turchills,  a  Saxon  family  of 
distinction  whose  pedigree  is  alleged  to  have  been 
traced  beyond  the  Norman  Conquest.^ 

At  Stratford-on-Avon,  which  they  made  their 
permanent  home,  John  Shakespeare  and  Mary 
Arden,  who  had  been  united  in  marriage  in  the 
parish  church  of  Wilmcote  in  the  year  1557,  were 
gladdened  by  the  birth  and  saddened  by  the  death 
of  two  daughters  before  our  poet  was  born.  On 
the  26th  of  April,  1564,  their  first  boy  was  chris- 
tened William.^  Those  who  have  an  appetite  for 
etymologies  find  food  for  rumination  here.  "  Wil- 
liam "  is  said  to  signify  "he  of  the  good  (or  resolute 
or  golden)  helmet,"  and  "  Shakespeare,"  the  Greek 
engchespalos  (spear-brandishing)^  —  William  Shake- 
speare they  say  is  the  golden-helmeted  brandisher 
of  the  spear,  perhaps  the  most  brilliant  and  warlike 
name  in  our  language! 

Besides  her  respectable  lineage  William's  mother 
brought  to  the  marriage  quite  a  little  fortune  in 
houses  and  lands.®  His  father,  John  Shakespeare, 
seems  in  business  a  very  Proteus  —  farmer,  grazier, 
wood-dealer,  wool-grower,  corn  vender,  butcher, 
pelt  seller,  tanner,  glover.  Perhaps  we  may  recon- 
cile the  accounts  of  his  various  occupations  by 
supposing  that  he  owned  a  farm  or  two,  and  so 
was  a  farmer;  raised  sheep  and  cattle,  and  so  was 
a  grazier  or  flockmaster;  cut  and  sold  wood  from 
his  land,  and  so  was  a  wood  dealer;    sheared   the 

[18] 


Cradle  and  School 

sheep  and  dealt  in  wool,  and  so  was  a  wool-grower; 
cultivated  and  marketed  grain,  and  so  was  a  corn 
vender;  butchered  the  animals  and  retailed  the 
meat,  and  so  was  a  butcher;  traded  off  some  of  the 
hides,  and  so  was  a  pelt  seller;  tanned  others  into 
leather,  and  so  was  a  tanner;  manufactured  the 
sheepskins  and  calfskins  into  rude  gloves,  and  so 
was  a  glover.  Such  a  union  of  occupations  was 
nothing  uncommon  in  those  days,  when  the  divi- 
sion of  labor  had  not  been  carried  far. 

Some  eight  years  before  William's  birth  his 
father  was  a  juror  in  the  borough  court.  A  juror 
is  presumed  to  have  plenty  of  time  at  his  disposal. 
He  can  sit  long  on  juries  or  curbstones,  waiting 
like  Wilkins  Micawber  for  "  something  to  turn  up." 
A  year  later  we  find  his  father  filling  the  ofifice  of 
ale-conner,  ale-inspector,  a  very  agreeable  ofifice,  no 
doubt.'  Six  and  again  five  years  before  William 
was  born,  his  father  was  one  of  the  four  constables 
of  the  borough.  What  Shakespeare  thought  of 
constables  may  be  inferred  from  several  of  his 
plays  —  Loves  Labor's  Lost,  Measure  for  Measure 
and  more  especially  Much  Ado  About  Nothing, 
in  which  he  makes  the  beef-witted  Dogberry, 
himself  a  constable,  say  to  Seacoal,  "  Neighbor 
Seacoal,  you  are  thought  here  to  be  the  most 
senseless  and  fit  man  for  constable."^  Twice  — 
five  and  again  three  years  (1559  and  1561)  before 
William's  advent  —  his  father  is  an  afTeeror,  a 
borough    court    attache    charged    with    the    duty    of 

[19] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

fixing  the  amount  of  petty  fines  for  misdemeanors, 
a  position  requiring  good  judgment  and  a  nice 
sense  of  right  and  wrong, 

"  To  make  the  punishment  fit  the  crime." 

Two  or  three  years  before  William  came,  we  find 
his  father  holding  the  office  of  chamberlain  or 
treasurer  of  the  borough.^  Of  course  this  required 
honesty  and  business  ability.  He  held  it  for  two 
years,  and  was  so  well-to-do  he  could  several  times 
allow  the  borough  to  be  indebted  to  him  in  a  con- 
siderable sum.  Afterwards  he  was  auditor  of 
municipal  accounts. 

The  summer  after  William  was  born  his  father 
contributed  money  to  relieve  the  sufferers  by  the 
plague,  "  the  sweating  sickness,"  it  was  called. 
It  struck  Stratford  in  June,  and  in  six  months  it 
swept  away  more  than  one  sixth  of  the  whole 
population,  239  out  of  about  1,400  souls-^*^  It  is 
a  fair  inference  that  the  family  were  then  in  good 
pecuniary  circumstances  and  charitably  disposed. 
When  the  boy  was  a  little  over  a  year  old,  on  the 
fourth  of  July,  1565,  his  father  became  one  of  the 
fourteen  aldermen,  an  office  requiring  wisdom  and 
integrity.  He  discharged  its  duties  so  well  that 
he  held  it  by  successive  re-elections  more  than 
twenty  years.  Annually  one  of  the  aldermen  was 
elected  high  bailiff  and  empowered  to  hold  a  court 
once  a  fortnight.  The  office  was  the  highest  in  the 
gift    of    the    corporation.     The    court    was    one    of 

[20] 


Cradle  and  School 

record  with  a  registrar  and  a  clerk.  It  had  juris- 
diction of  cases  in  which  the  property  involved 
did  not  exceed  in  value  thirty  pounds,  say  $1,200 
to  $1,500.  So  on  the  fifth  of  September,  1568, 
William's  father  became  the  presiding  magistrate. 
He  must  have  been  of  good  abilities  and  high 
character  with  some  knowledge  of  law.^^ 

September  5th,  1571,  William  being  then  nearly 
seven  and  a  half  years  of  age,  his  father  was 
elected  chief  alderman,  the  highest  position 
among  the  fourteen.  He  held  it  till  the  last  day  of 
the  following  September,  quite  constantly  a  rising 
man  in  the  little  world  of  Stratford.  When  William 
was  eleven,  his  father  had  not  only  a  controlling 
interest  in  his  wife's  property,  fifty  acres  at  Wilm- 
cote  and  two  dwelling  houses  with  adjoining 
buildings  and  grounds  at  Snitterfield,  but  he  was 
also  the  owner  of  other  pieces  of  real  estate. 

The  loss  of  their  infant  daughters  must  have 
made  John  and  Mary  Shakespeare  feel  a  deeper 
and  more  tender  interest  in  their  first-born  son, 
an  interest  not  lessened  by  the  birth  of  Gilbert 
some  two  and  a  half  years  younger  than  William, 
Joan  about  two  and  a  half  years  younger  than  Gil- 
bert, Ann^^  two  and  a  half  younger  than  Joan, 
Richard  two  and  a  half  younger  than  Ann,  and 
finally  Edmund  six  years  younger  than  Richard. 
William,  then,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  was 
the  oldest  of  six  living  children.     Quite  constantly 

[21] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

they  had  an  infant  in  that  house,  and  the  sweet 
refining  presence  of  a  little  child  must  have  pro- 
duced an  impression  for  good  on  this  most  sensitive 
nature. ^^  Then  came  the  sad  experience  of  his 
sister's  death  adding  a  tinge  of  seriousness  if  not 
of  melancholy,  such  as  we  may  find  in  his  early 
poems,  especially  his  sonnets. 

Yet  we  may  safely  assume  after  this  brief  survey 
that  the  first  twelve  or  fifteen  years  of  his  life  were 
passed  in  the  midst  of  influences  calculated  to 
awaken  and  foster  his  ambition.  During  his  first 
five  or  ten  years  —  years  that  are  often  decisive 
of  character  and  destiny  —  the  family  was  rising 
in  the  social  and  political  scale,  growing  in  im- 
portance as  in  numbers.  And  this  mother  of 
respectable  ancestry,  this  aspiring  and  successful 
father,  at  times  the  foremost  man  in  Stratford, 
would  of  course  wish  their  boy  to  have  a  superior 
education.  What  more  natural  than  that  they 
should  employ  private  tutors?^*  We  do  not  know- 
that  such  was  the  case  with  the  Shakespeares ; 
but  it  was  customary  in  well-to-do  families.  With 
a  special  instructor  of  the  right  sort  there  is  little 
in  learning  that  is  not  attainable;  few  heights  or 
depths  that  cannot  be  scaled  or  sounded. 

Whether  the  boy  had  this  advantage  or  not, 
there  is  no  doubt  that,  like  a  majority  of  brilliant 
Englishmen,  he  was  much  indebted  to  that  wisest 
of  secular  bounties  which  founds  free  institutions  of 
learning.     The     Stratford     free     grammar     school, 

[22] 


Cradle  and  School 

established  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV,  suppressed 
by  Henry  VIII,  restored  in  1553  by  Edward  VI, 
was  open  to  the  chief  alderman's  son  at  the  age  of 
seven. ^^  The  principal  study  was  Latin  preparatory 
to  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
Higher  English  was  picked  up  only  incidentally  in 
the  "  gerund  grinding  "  processes  of  translation. 
The  rudiments  of  Greek,  and  even  French  and 
Italian,  were  sometimes  imparted  to  bright  pupils 
in  similar  English  institutions,  and  we  may  be  sure 
none  brighter  than  our  hero  ever  sat  on  those  hard 
benches.  "  Toughness  plus  astucity,"  to  use  Car- 
lyle's  phrase  —  bodily  endurance  and  keen  discern- 
ment —  it  seemed  to  me  when  I  visited  the  school 
in  June,  1882,  must  surely  be  gained  by  those  who 
survived  the  drill  for  years. 

The  latest  and  best  biographers  for  the  most 
part,  like  Sidney  Lee,  T.  Spencer  Baynes,  and 
Hamilton  W.  Mabie,  are  of  the  opinion  that  William 
spent  nearly  six  years  in  this  school. ^^  Appleton 
Morgan,  William  J.  Rolfe  and  some  other  eminent 
Shakespearians  have  been  inclined  to  believe  he 
was  not  a  diligent  and  regular  student.  Here 
perhaps  our  views  may  widely  diverge.  The  vast 
and  multiform  learning  displayed  in  the  dramas  is 
conceded,  though  some  will  have  it  that  the  erudi- 
tion was  Lord  Bacon's,  or  that  of  some  other  ripe 
scholar  or  "  syndicate  "  of  scholars,  or,  to  repeat 
the  old  joke,  "  It  was  not  William  Shakespeare, 
but  another  man  of  the  same  name!  " 

[23] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

The  prevalent  impression,  perhaps  I  should  call 
it  the  current  notion,  is  that  the  youngster  himself 
was  idle,  eccentric,  irregular,  often  truant,  dis- 
sipated, dissolute  even.  Such  depravity,  the  un- 
thinking say,  is  characteristic  of  genius.  "  The 
favorite  idea  of  a  genius,"  says  Dr.  Orville  Dewey," 
"is  of  one  who  never  studies,  or  who  studies  no- 
body can  tell  when,  —  at  midnight,  or  at  odd  times 
and  intervals,  and  now  and  then  strikes  out  '  at 
a  heat,'  as  the  phrase  is,  some  new  and  wonderful 
production";  that  geniuses  are  "loose  fellows 
about  town  or  loungers  in  the  country,"  who 
"  write  in  ale-houses  and  sleep  in  bar-rooms; 
pick  up  the  pen  as  a  magician's  wand  to  supply 
their  wants,  and,  when  the  pressure  of  necessity 
is  relieved,  resort  again  to  their  carousals;  abhor 
order,  can  bear  no  restraint,  eschew  all  labor," 
etc. 

I  have  little  patience  with  such  a  theory  either 
of  genius  in  general  or  that  of  Shakespeare  in 
particular.  Genius,  as  I  understand  the  term,  is  the 
ability  to  see  further  and  deeper,  to  feel  more 
keenly,  conceive  more  vividly,  originate  more 
rapidly,  express  more  delicately  and  strongly,  but 
most  of  all  and  including  all  to  work  very  long  and 
very  hard.  It  is  never  idle:  its  apparent  indolence 
is  that  of  the  whirling  top,  so  swift  as  to  seem 
motionless!  But  disturb  it!  —  you  see  with  what 
tenacity  it  clings  to  its  place  and  purpose!  Try 
to  thwart  or  stop  it  —  it  flies  into  a  paroxysm  of 

[24] 


Cradle  and  School 

power!  The  sooner  we  have  done  with  the  non- 
sense that  it  is  any  substitute  for  hard  labor,  the 
better.  The  greatest  genius  is  ever  the  greatest 
worker.  From  his  joyous  childhood  to  his  early 
death  this  brain  labored  as  few  have  ever  done. 

Look  at  some  of  the  undeniable  facts.  Most 
men's  vocabulary  is  limited  to  a  few  hundred 
words,  or  at  best  two  or  three  thousand  badly 
used  and  more  than  sufficient  to  express  their  — 
lack  of  thought!^^  Language  with  most  men,  to 
use  the  similes  and  metaphors  of  James  Russell 
Lowell,  is  "  that  contrivance,  hollow  as  a  speaking 
trumpet,  by  which  breathing  and  moving  bipeds, 
'  sailing  o'er  life's  solemn  main,'  are  enabled  to  hail 
each  other  and  make  known  their  mutual  shortness 
of  mental  stores!  "  Milton,  perhaps  the  most 
learned  of  great  poets,  uses  in  all  his  verse  fewer 
than  eighteen  thousand  words.  Our  common  Eng- 
lish version  of  the  Bible  with  all  its  majesty  and 
richness  of  diction  has  less  than  seven  thousand 
five  hundred,  not  including  proper  names.  But 
Shakespeare  employs  more  than  twenty-four  thou- 
sand. 

Whence  came  this  extraordinary  mastery?  this 
almost  unequaled  copiousness  of  language?  These 
vocables  were  not  all  in  common  use.  Good  judges 
affirm  that  at  least  five  thousand  of  them  could  not 
have  been  heard  by  him  in  conversation  either  at 
Stratford  or  anywhere  else;  and  if  he  had  heard 
them,   how  could   he  have  known   the   meaning  of 

[25] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

hundreds  of  them?  From  books  and  books  alone 
could  this  familiarity  with  rare  speech  have  been 
gained. 

More  important  still  is  it  to  observe  his  cor- 
rectness in  its  use.  What  says  that  prince  of 
critics  just  quoted?  He  declares,  "Shakespeare 
was  more  supremely  incapable  of  bad  sense,  un- 
couth metre,  and  false  grammar  than  any  other 
man  that  ever  wrote  English. "^^  Similar  is  the 
testimony  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant  of  critics, 
De  Quincey.  In  his  Essay  on  Style  he  says,  "  It 
makes  us  blush  to  add  that  even  grammar  is  so 
little  of  a  perfect  attainment  with  us  that,  with 
two  or  three  exceptions,  (one  being  Shakespeare, 
whom  some  affect  to  consider  as  belonging  to  a 
semi-barbarous  age,)  we  have  never  seen  the  writer, 
through  a  circuit  of  prodigious  reading,  who  has 
not  sometimes  violated  the  accidence  or  the  syntax 
of  English  grammar." 

Still  more  to  be  emphasized  is  the  fact  that 
Shakespeare  needed  all  this  vocabulary.  No  man 
condenses  more.  He  sometimes  seems  to  put 
several  meanings  at  once  into  a  word.  No  man 
differentiates  more  nicely. -°  The  swarming  "  winged 
words  "  are  loaded  down  with  honey  from  many  an 
Eden  through  which  his  fancy  roamed.  Few  authors 
are  so  much  given  to  the  coinage  of  other  parts  of 
speech  into  what  the  pedagogues  term  "  active 
verbs."  This  reminds  of  Mark  Tapley  in  Dickens's 
Martin   Chuzzlewit.     He  remembers  the  old   Lind- 

[26] 


Cradle  and  School 

ley  Murray  grammar  definition  of  a  verb.  He 
says,  "  A  werb  is  a  word  as  signifies  to  do,  to  be, 
or  to  suffer  (which  is  all  the  grammar,  and  enough 
too,  as  ever  I  was  taught) ;  and  if  there's  a  werb 
alive,  I'm  it.  For  I'm  always  a  bein*,  sometimes 
a  doin',  and  continually  a  sufferin'."^^ 

To  illustrate  this  coinage  —  The  beautiful  Egyp- 
tian queen  in  Antony  and  Cleopatra  foresees  that 
her  revels  with  Mark  Antony  will  in  after  ages  be 
dramatized  and  acted  in  the  theatres,  and  she  is 
disgusted  at  the  thought  that  some  boy  will  per- 
sonate and  belittle  her;  for  in  Shakespeare's  time 
and  for  nearly  fifty  years  afterward  the  female 
characters  were  represented  on  the  stage  by  boys, 
never  by  girls  or  women.  Disdainfully  she  ex- 
claims. 

The  quick  comedians 
Extemporally  shall  stage  us;   Antony 
Shall  be  brought  drunken  forth,  and  I  shall  see 
Some  squeaking  Cleopatra  boy  my  greatness!^^ 

So  "  He  godded  me  "  in  Coriolanus,  that  is,  idol- 
ized me  or  treated  me  as  a  god;  "Will  you  pleas- 
ure me?  "  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  that  is, 
"  Will  you  please  me,  or  comply  with  my  pleas- 
ure? "  "  It  did  bass  my  trespass,"  in  The  Tem- 
pest, uttered  the  story  of  my  crime  in  a  deep  bass 
voice;  "She  Phebes  me,"  treats  me  Phebe-like, 
i.  e.,  cruelly  in  As  You  Like  It,  IV,  iii,  39. 
(Sprague's  ed.)  "  It  out-herods  Herod,"  in 
Hamlet,    III,   ii,    13.     (Sprague's   cd.)     "Grace   me 

[27] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

no  grace,  nor  uncle  me  no  uncle,"  in  Richard  II; 
"  Thank  me  no  thankings,  nor  proud  me  no 
prouds,"  in  Romeo  and  Juliet. 

This  turning  any  "  part  of  speech  "  into  a 
"  verb,"  vivifying  a  name  or  a  quality  into  an 
act  —  making  the  dullest  vocable  glow  with  mean- 
ing and  stir  like  a  thing  of  life  —  is  more  frequent 
in  the  Elizabethan  age  than  in  any  other,  and 
more  frequent  in  Shakespeare  than  in  any  other 
author.  It  appears  to  proceed  from  fulness  and 
intensity  of  thought.  Conceive  of  the  immense 
distance  that  separates  our  dramatist  intellectually 
from  portions  of  the  brown  races  that  inhabit  some 
of  the  islands  south  or  southeast  of  Asia,  of  whom 
we  are  told  by  the  late  Professor  W,  D.  Whitney 
of  Yale  that  they  have  no  "  verb  "  in  their  lan- 
guages. "  Their  so-called  verbs,"  he  says,  "  are 
really  only  nouns  used  predicatively.  .  .  .  To  ex- 
press *  He  has  a  white  jacket  on  '  the  Dyaks 
(these  are  the  original  and  most  numerous  in- 
habitants of  Borneo)  say,  '  He  with  jacket  with 
white,'  or  '  He  jackety  whitey.'  "^  What  progress 
in  literature,  science,  or  indeed  in  any  phase  of 
civilization,  can  be  hoped  for  with  such? 

We  continually  quote  from  his  verse:  look  for 
a  moment  at  his  prose,  which  lies  in  drifts  of  gold 
sand  here  and  there.  Disregard  for  a  moment  the 
dramatic  effect,  and  note  simply  his  mastery  of 
English. 

[28] 


Cradle  and  School 

Hamlet  suspects  that  his  uncle  and  mother,  the 
king  and  queen,  have  sent  his  old  schoolmates, 
Rosencrantz  and  Guildenstern,  as  spies  to  find  out 
whether  he  is  really  insane  or  only  shamming.  He 
appeals  to  them  — 

Let  me  conjure  you  by  the  rights  of  our  fellowship,  by 
the  consonancy  of  our  youth,  by  the  obligation  of  our 
ever  preserved  love,  and  by  what  more  dear  a  better 
proposer  could  charge  you  withal  —  be  even  and 
direct  with  me,  whether  you  were  sent  for  or  no."  — 
"  My  lord,  we  were  sent  for,"  —  "I  will  tell  you 
why:  so  shall  my  anticipation  prevent  your  discovery, 
and  your  secrecy  to  the  king  and  queen  moult  no 
feather.  I  have  of  late,  but  wherefore  I  know  not, 
lost  all  my  mirth,  forgone  all  custom  of  exercises; 
and  indeed  it  goes  so  heavily  with  my  disposition  that 
this  goodly  frame,  the  earth,  seems  to  me  a  sterile 
promontory;  this  most  excellent  canopy,  the  air  — 
look  you,  this  brave  o'erhanging  firmament,  this  ma- 
jestical  roof  fretted  with  golden  fire!  —  why  it  appears 
no  other  thing  to  me  than  a  foul  and  pestilent  con- 
gregation of  vapors!  What  a  piece  of  work  is  a  man! 
how  noble  in  reason!  how  infinite  in  faculty!  in  form 
and  moving  how  express  and  admirable!  in  action 
how  like  an  angel!  in  apprehension  how  like  a  god! 
the  beauty  of  the  world!  the  paragon  of  animals! 
And  yet  to  me,  what  is  this  quintessence  of  dust? 
Man  delights  not  me;  no,  nor  woman  neither,  though 
by  your  smiling  you  seem  to  say  so.  .  .  .  You  are 
welcome;  but  my  uncle  father  and  aunt  mother  are 
deceived.  ...  I  am  but  mad  north  northwest:  when 
the  wind  is  southerly,  I  know  a  hawk  from  a  hand- 
saw I^* 

[29] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

It  is  safe  to  conclude  that  his  mastery  of  Eng- 
lish, the  blended  copiousness  and  felicity  of  his 
diction,  was  never  surpassed. 

It  is  certain  that  his  knowledge  of  Latin  was 
extensive,  although  we  make  no  claim  that  he  was 
deep  in  its  literature.  Here  is  one  proof:  he  uses  a 
multitude  of  Latin  words  in  their  root  meaning, 
indicating  both  that  he  knows  them  well  and  that 
he  has  a  taste  for  etymological  study.  Thus  in 
Cymheline  we  have  not  only  such  obvious  ety- 
mology as  in  Leonatus  (lion-born,  or  lion's  whelp), 
but  the  ingenious  derivation  of  mulier  (woman) 
from  mollis  (tender)  and  aer  (air),  not,  we  trust, 
an  altogether  false  derivation!  In  The  Tempest 
Ferdinand  calls  Miranda  '  the  top  of  admiration,' 
a  pretty  good  translation  of  the  word.  In  Macbeth 
and  several  other  plays  he  uses  "  convince  "  in  the 
root  sense  of  overcome  completely.  In  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream  and  a  dozen  other  plays  he  has 
"  continent  "  in  the  sense  of  containing  or  con- 
tainer.^^ It  would  be  easy  to  make  a  list  of  a 
hundred  or  more  Latin  words  whose  radical  mean- 
ing he  has  so  mastered  that  he  can  anglicise  them 
with  ease  and  grace. 

In  Love's  Labor's  Lost,  Taming  of  the  Shrew, 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  and  elsewhere,  he  quotes 
Latin  freely  and  often.  Occasionally  he  originates 
it,  apparently  not  less  than  fifteen  times.  His 
Comedy  of  Errors  is  founded  largely  upon  the 
Menaechmi    of    Plautus,    not    found    rendered    into 

130] 


Cradle  and  School 

English  till  after  Shakespeare's  play  was  written. 
Ovid  he  appears  to  have  at  his  tongue's  end.^^ 
In  the  Second  Part  of  King  Henry  IV  he  seems  to 
tell  us  how  he  studied  languages;  for  there  we 
find  the  Earl  of  Warwick  apologizing  to  the  king 
for  Prince  Hal's  association  with  Falstaff  and  other 
rakes:  he  says  the  prince  is  only  studying  human 
nature  in  these  dissolute  companions  just  as  one 
studies  indelicate  words  in  a  lexicon.^^  We  have 
too  the  testimony  of  Ben  Jonson,  who  knew  him 
well.  In  his  famous  lines  to  Shakespeare,  prefixed 
to  the  first  folio,  he  says, 

"And  though  thou  hadst  small  Latin  and  less  Greek"; 

which  may  be  interpreted,  Though  we  should  con- 
cede that  thou  hadst  small  Latin  and  less  Greek. 
But  take  the  statement  as  commonly  accepted; 
it  implies  that  he  knew  something  of  both  lan- 
guages. It  should  be  remembered  that  Ben  had,  or 
thought  he  had,  vast  knowledge  of  the  classics, 
and  that  what  seemed  to  him  "  small  Latin  and  less 
Greek  "  might  have  been  a  respectable  amount  of 
both  tongues.^^  Some  have  even  suspected  that 
Will  had  as  much  of  that  sort  of  learning  as  Ben, 
but  that  he  didn't  over-estimate  it  and  parade  it  as 
Ben  did  his!  It  has  been  suggested  that  Greek 
in  that  age  was  studied  with  the  aid  of  books 
annotated  in  Latin,  and  by  those  students  only 
who  could  fluently  write  and  speak  in  the  other 
language. 

[31] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

As  to  his  knowledge  of  Greek  we  have  not  only 
Jonson's  testimony,  but  we  have  other  evidence; 
quite  a  number  of  Hellenic  words,  either  newly 
coined  into  our  speech  or  partly  introduced  and 
naturalized  by  him;^^  also  many  resemblances  of 
that  ancient  phraseology  not  till  then  construed 
in  English  print.  Some  of  these  resemblances,  if 
we  had  found  them  in  any  other  writer  of  the  same 
date,  we  should  have  pronounced  palpable  imita- 
tions or  translations.  Little  stress  need  be  laid 
upon  isolated  instances,  but  the  many  may  force 
conviction.  Lowell  points  out  that  in  the  Electra 
of  Sophocles,  which,  he  says,  "  is  almost  identical 
in  its  leading  motive  with  Hamlet"  and  which  at 
that  time  had  not  appeared  in  English  print,  the 
Chorus  uses  "  to  console  Electra  for  the  supposed 
death  of  Orestes  "  language  quite  similar  to  that 
used    by    Hamlet's    uncle    and    mother    to    console 

Hamlet  — 

Your  father  lost  a  father; 
That  father  lost,  lost  his; 

but  to  perse ver 

In  obstinate  condolement  is  a  course 
Of  impious  stubbornness. 

Previously  the  queen  had  said 

Thou  know'st   't  is  common;    all  that  lives  must  die, 
Passing  through  nature  to  eternity.'" 

It  seems  to  be  demonstrated  that  portions  of 
Shakespeare's  Timon  of  Athens  are  founded  in 
part    upon    one    of    Lucian's    Greek    Dialogues    not 

[32] 


Cradle  and  School 

translated  into  English  till  twenty  years  after  his 
death.  "  Sea  of  troubles  "  in  Hamlet  is  identical 
with  kakon  pelagos  in  the  untranslated  Hip- 
pdytus  of  Euripides  and  the  untranslated  Persai 
of  iCschylus.  "  Table  of  memory  "  in  Hamlet 
is  mnemosin  deltois  phrenon  in  ^Eschylus*  Prome- 
theus. In  Hamlet  and  in  Shakespeare's  one  hun- 
dred and  seventh  sonnet  we  find  the  phrase  "  pro- 
phetic soul,"  which  exactly  renders  promantis 
thumos  in  the  Andromache  of  Euripides.  "  Push 
us  from  our  stools  "  (i.  e.,  thrones)  in  Macbeth  is 
stuphelixai  hedeon  in  Homer's  Iliad.  "  Digest  the 
venom  of  spleen  "  in  Jidius  Ccesar  is  cholon  thumalgea 
pessei  in  the  Iliad.  "  Honey-heavy  dew  of  slum- 
ber "  in  Julius  Ccesar  is  very  nearly  meliphron 
Hupnos  in  the  Iliad.^^ 

Lowell,  who  made  a  study  of  the  subject,  and 
whose  opinion  is  of  the  highest  among  American 
authorities,  declares  that  Shakespeare  is  decidedly 
Greek  in  his  method.  He  points  out,  as  Campbell 
in  his  Life  of  Mrs.  Siddons  declared  himself  able 
to  do,  marked  resemblances  between  Shakespeare 
and  iEschylus  in  the  mintage  of  the  brain  and 
particularly  in  the  choice  of  epithets.^^  He  con- 
cludes that  Shakespeare  was  able  to  read  after  a 
fashion  the  ancient  tragic  poets,  among  the  most 
difficult  of  all  Greek,  in  the  original  tongue.^^ 

He  knew  French.  Scattered  through  his  plays 
are    many    passages    in    that    language    which,    it 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

seems,  he  was  able  to  compose  in  with  tolerable 
facility  and  correctness.  His  mastery  of  Latin 
etymologies  would  wonderfully  facilitate  the  acquisi- 
tion of  languages  like  French,  Italian,  Spanish, 
daughters  of  that  prolific  mother.  Perhaps  the 
quickest  way  to  learn  these  is  to  master  Latin 
first.  As  illustrative  of  his  French,  notice  the 
amusing  dialogue  in  King  Henry  V  between  Ancient 
Pistol  and  the  servant  boy  on  one  side  and  the 
captive  French  soldier  on  the  other.^^  So  the 
English-French  lesson  in  the  same  play  between  the 
princess  Katherine  of  France  and  her  lady  at- 
tendant who  has  been  in  England.  So  too  the 
last  scene  in  the  play,  the  delightful  courtship 
scene.  King  Henry  tries  to  speak  French  in  woo- 
ing, and  she  talks  back  in  broken  English.  They 
get  along  pretty  well,  though  Henry  declares  it 
would  be  as  easy  for  him  to  conquer  the  kingdom 
as  to  speak  so  much  French! 

He  knew  Italian.  How  else  shall  we  account 
for  the  fact  that  he  imitates  passages  in  Italian 
of  which  no  English  version  had  been  printed? 
The  story  of  Othello,  for  instance,  appears  not  to 
have  been  translated  into  English  print.  True, 
Shakespeare  might  have  read  it  in  French.  But  we 
find  in  this  play  the  following  lines  descriptive  of 
the  virtue  of  the  fatal  handkerchief,  the  dying  gift 
of  Othello's  mother  to  her  son,  the  gift  of  Othello 
to  his  fair  bride: 

[34] 


Cradle  and  School 

There's  magic  in  the  web  of  it: 
A  sibyl  that  had  numbered  in  the  world 
The  sun  to  course  two  hundred  compasses 
In  her  prophetic  fury  sewed  the  work. 

This  in  all  probability  is  taken  from  Ariosto's 
Orlando  Furioso,  where  similar  expressions  are  used 
of  a  tent.  Now  the  only  English  version  of  Ariosto 
in  Shakespeare's  time,  Harrington's,  does  not  have 
Shakespeare's  phrase  "  prophetic  fury,"  the  furor 
profetico  of  the  original  Italian.  The  dramatist, 
then,  it  would  seem,  drew  not  from  the  only  exist- 
ing translation,  but  directly  from  the  Italian 
original.^^  Note  also  in  the  same  play  the  famous 
passage  — 

Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash:    'tis  something,  nothing: 
'Twas  mine,  'tis  his,  and  has  been  slave  to  thousands: 
But  he  that  filches  from  me  my  good  name, 
Robs  me  of  that  which  not  enricheth  him 
And  makes  me  poor  indeed. 

This  is  apparently  taken  from  Berni's  Orlando 
Inamorato  (recast  or  remodeled  from  Matteo  M. 
Boiardo's  long  poem  of  the  same  name),  of  which 
there  had  never  been  a  printed  English  version.^^ 

A  considerable  part  of  Shakespeare's  Cymbeline, 
all  that  relating  to  Imogen,  is  taken  from  Boc- 
caccio's Decameron,  of  which  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  printed  English  translation  in  his  age. 
For  the  plot  of  The  Merchant  of  Venice  he  drew 
from  an  Italian  novel,  //  Pecorone,  which  had  not, 

[35] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

so  far  as  we  can  learn,  been  rendered  into  English 
print.  Two  of  his  tragedies  and  five  of  his  come- 
dies are  of  Italian  origin.^^  Able  scholars  have 
insisted  that  some  of  these  could  hardly  have  been 
written  by  one  who  had  not  traveled  in  Italy. 
Conversation  in  Italian,  forty  or  fifty  words  and 
phrases,  occur  in  the  dramas,  such  as  one  ignorant 
of  the  language  would  hardly  have  ventured  upon. 

Dr.  William  Maginn,  and  a  number  of  others 
who  within  a  few  years  past  have  made  a  careful 
study  of  Shakespeare's  learning,  and  who  have 
effectually  confuted  the  arguments  of  Dr.  Richard 
Farmer's  celebrated  essay  on  the  subject  (in 
1767),  are  of  the  opinion  that  the  author  of  the 
dramas  understood  something  of  Spanish.  Certain 
incidents  in  Shakespeare's  third  comedy.  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona,  appear  to  have  been  taken 
from  Diana  Enamorada  (Diana  in  Love),  a  very 
celebrated  Spanish  romance  by  Jorge  de  Monte- 
mayor,  not  translated  into  English  print  till  1598, 
several  years  after  the  production  of  the  play.^* 
Some  fifteen  or  twenty  Spanish  words  and  phrases 
are  found  in  the  plays,  showing  that  the  author 
had  "  dipped  "  into  that  speech. 

If  like  young  Francis  Bacon,  or  the  child  Milton, 
or  Walter  Scott  at  the  age  of  six,  the  boy  had 
"  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  his  province,"  he  could 
hardly  at  that  period  have  ranged  over  wider 
fields.     Dr.    Morgan,    President    of    the    late    New 

[361 


Cradle  and  School 

York  Shakespeare  Society,  is  not  sure  that  Shake- 
speare had  any  literary  genius;  but  he  is  clear  in 
the  conviction  that  there  is  vast  erudition  in  the 
plays.  He  has  advanced  the  idea  that,  as  theatre 
proprietor  and  manager,  quite  probably  he  kept  a 
ripe  scholar  or  two  under  pay  at  his  elbow!  Judge 
Jesse  Johnson  in  his  Testimony  of  the  Sonnets 
concurs.  Bishop  C.  Wordsworth  in  Shakespeare  s 
Knowledge  and  Use  of  the  Bible,  and  other  divines 
have  shown  the  dramatist's  familiarity  with  the 
Scriptures  including  the  so-called  Apocryphal  books. 
The  many  kinds  and  extent  of  information  with 
which  his  mind  teemed,  it  would  seem  difficult  to 
account  for,  except  on  the  theory  of  a  very  long 
and  almost  passionate  pursuit  of  knowledge  for  its 
own  sake.^^ 

The  fact  that  he  was  not  an  Oxford  or  Cam- 
bridge student,  if  that  be  conceded,  proves  nothing 
against  his  scholarship.  Many  a  university  graduate 
is  no  scholar.  Many  a  profound  scholar  has  never 
been  inside  college  walls.  Many  a  university 
answers  to  Dean  Swift's  sarcastic  description,  "It 
must  be  a  very  learned  place;  for  every  student 
carries  some  learning  there,  and  nobody  ever 
brings  any  away!  "  The  world  was  our  poet's 
university,  as  Italy  is  said  to  have  been  Robert 
Browning's. 

To  say  nothing  further  at  this  time  of  his 
knowledge     of     English,     Latin,      French,     Greek, 

[37] 

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Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Italian,  possibly  Spanish;  nothing  now  of  his 
insight  into  the  secrets  of  the  heart;  nothing  of  his 
minute  and  extensive  acquaintance  with  external 
nature;  nothing  of  his  palpable  acquired  informa- 
tion of  the  technique  of  law,  medicine,  insanity, 
surgery,  religion,  art,  music,  natural  science,  politics, 
history,  mythology,  navigation,  astrology,  heraldry, 
falconry,  metaphysics,  military  tactics,  soldier 
talk,  Bible  lore  —  a  general  knowledge  so  vast 
that  Lowell  declares  it  unparalleled,  and  Emerson 
pronounces  him  "inconceivably  wise"  —  who  can 
believe,  for  this  is  what  I  wish  to  emphasize,  — 
who  can  believe  that  this  astounding  mass  of 
information,  and  the  clear  wisdom  that  was  sub- 
limated from  it,  were  attained  without  eager  and 
long-continued  study?  study  of  books  too?  Other 
knowledge  passes  away  with  the  possessor;  but 
forma  mentis  aeterna,  the  impress  of  intellect  is 
everlasting.  Science,  art,  literature,  philosophy  — 
much  that  man  has  thought,  much  that  man  has 
done,  much  that  he  has  learned  in  the  toil,  the 
joys,  the  sufferings  of  a  hundred  generations  —  is 
garnered  indestructible  in  the  world  of  books. 

Dryden  declared  "  Shakespeare  was  naturally 
learned,  and  needed  not  the  spectacles  of  books."*" 
"  Naturally  learned! "  a  contradiction  in  terms. 
"  Needed  not  the  spectacles  of  books! "  The 
solemn  ass  Dogberry  in  Much  Ado  About  Nothing 
affirms,  "To  be  well-favored  is  the  gift  of  fortune; 
but    to    write    and    read    comes    by    nature."     But 

[38] 


Cradle  and  School 

writing  and  reading,  and  the  knowledge  treasured 
in  books  only,  do  not  come  by  nature,  Dogberrys 
and  Drydens  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
We  measure  the  cause  by  the  effect;  the  blow  by 
the  indentation  or  the  recoil.  Whatever  his  natural 
ability,  he  must  have  been  a  student,  a  book  student, 
and  one  of  extraordinary  diligence. 

But  evil  days  came  upon  this  family,  and  the 
bright  future  was  hid  or  struggled  faintly  through 
thick  clouds.  Whether  John's  official  business  as 
ale-taster,  the  first  office  he  ever  held,  exercised  a 
fatal  influence  over  him  as  that  of  whiskey  ganger 
did  upon  gentle  Robert  Burns  two  hundred  years 
later;  or  whether,  as  is  more  likely,  he  lived  be- 
yond his  means  in  his  ambition  or  extravagance  or 
prodigal  hospitality,  with  this  increasing  family; 
or,  as  likeliest  of  all,  his  plans  miscarried  through 
his  attempting  too  many  vocations  at  once  — 
farmer,  grazier,  wood-cutter,  wool-grower,  corn 
dealer,  malt  seller,  butcher,  pelt  vender,  tanner, 
glover,  and  last,  and  perhaps  worst,  office  holder  — 
it  seems  certain  that  he  sank  into  poverty.  When 
William  is  about  fourteen  we  notice  the  beginning 
of  this  descent:  his  father  has  to  part  with  one  of 
his  land  interests,  presumably  to  meet  pressing 
obligations:  he  can  pay  only  half  as  much  as  each 
of  the  other  aldermen  to  equip  militia  soldiers, 
billmen,  pikemen,  and  archers.  The  other  aldermen 
gave    money    weekly    to    relieve    the    poor;     he    is 

L39  ] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

excused  by  vote  of  the  board  from  a  tax  of  four- 
pence  a  week  levied  for  that  purpose.  When 
William  is  fifteen  another  realty  interest  has  to  be 
sacrificed,  a  reversionary  property  at  Snitterfield; 
and  now  John  Shakespeare  contributes  nothing  to 
equip  militiamen  and  nothing  to  relieve  the  poor. 
Yet  it  seems  he  still  endeavors  to  keep  up  ap- 
pearances; for  in  this  year  William's  little  sister 
Ann  dies,  and  at  her  burial  there  are  both  pall  and 
bell,  though  other  children,  buried  in  the  same  year 
at  Stratford,  are  honored  with  only  half  the  cere- 
mony, the  tolling  of  the  bell  at  half  the  cost. 

The  once  famous  actor,  Thomas  Betterton,  for 
forty  years  the  chief  ornament  of  the  English  stage, 
admired  by  Addison  and  Steele,  and  who  used  to 
personate  with  wonderful  skill  and  power  Hamlet, 
Macbeth,  and  Othello,  and  was  finally  honored  by 
burial  in  Westminster  Abbey  (1710),  visited  Strat- 
ford to  learn  what  he  could  about  the  dramatist 
whom  he  almost  worshipped.  He  picked  up  a 
tradition  that  narrowed  circumstances  forced  John 
Shakespeare  to  withdraw  his  son  from  school. 
William  Castle,  an  old  parish  clerk  who  was  living 
in  Stratford  in  1693  learned  that  William,  when  a 
boy,  was  apprenticed  to  a  butcher.  Gossiping  old 
John  Aubrey  who  went  up  and  down  England 
gathering  items  of  interest  in  regard  to  distinguished 
men,  and  who  died  in  1697,  is  more  explicit.  He 
visited  Stratford  and  talked  with  old  people  who 
had    known    William    in    his    "  vealy  "    stage.     He 

[40] 


Cradle  and  School 

says,  "  I  have  been  told  heretofore  by  some  of  the 
neighbors  that  when  WilHam  was  a  boy  he  exercised 
his  father's  trade  (of  butcher),  but  when  he  killed 
a  calf,  he  would  do  it  in  high  style  and  make  a 
speech!  "  Very  likely.  Will  was  not  the  boy  to 
have  his  spirit  broken  by  his  father's  reverses; 
not  he!  It  is  amusing  to  think  of  him  in  his 
immaturity  delivering  an  oration,  dramatizing  the 
scene,  airing  his  elocution,  soaring  on  rhetorical 
wings,  pronouncing  high-sounding  Latin  or  English 
poetry;  while  in  sublime  tragic  style,  perhaps  re- 
calling the  legendary  sacrificial  goat  in  the  dawn 
of  the  Greek  drama,  he  invoked  the  immortal 
gods  to  partake  in  the  offering,  brandished  the 
sacred  butcher-knife,  clipped  the  fateful  lock  of 
hair  from  between  the  gilded  or  wreathed  horns 
of  the  animal,  tossed  it  in  the  flames  as  a  share  for 
Minerva  or  Pluto,  crumbled  and  sprinkled,  Homeric 
fashion,*^  the  coarse  salt- meal  cake  of  consecra" 
tion  upon  the  head  of  the  devoted  calf,  or  chased 
the  bleating  sheep,  or  held  by  the  ears  the  squealing 
pig!  Was  he  thinking  of  these  scenes  a  few  years 
later  when  he  pictured  the  fat  Falstaff  running 
away  from  a  fight,  who,  says  Prince  Hal,  "  roared 
for  mercy  and  still  ran  and  roared  as  ever  I  heard 
bull-calf"?^ 

In  the  sunny  childhood  of  him  as  of  every  boy  — 
every  boy  that  "  amounts  "  to  anything,  for  there*^ 
are  boys  and  boys!  —  we  may  be  sure  there  were 

[41] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

glorious  ideals  and  high  hopes.  Had  all  gone 
smoothly  with  his  father,  these  day-dreams  as 
usual  might  have  come  to  nothing.  Of  the  es- 
sence of  genius  is  the  ability  by  incredible  industry, 
"  carrying  the  feelings  of  youth  into  the  powers  of 
manhood,"  as  Coleridge  expresses  it  —  perhaps  the 
best  description  ever  given  of  genius  in  action  — 
to  build  the  grandest  works  from  the  scantiest 
materials;  nay,  to  hew  obstructions  into  stepping- 
stones;    as  Massinger's  Virgin-Martyr  exclaims, 

"  The  visage  of  the  hangman  frights  not  me; 
And  all  your  whips,  racks,  gibbets,  axes,  fires, 
Are  scaffoldings  on  which  my  soul  climbs  up 
To  an  eternal  habitation!" 

And  now  at  fourteen  or  fifteen,  when  he  saw  his 
father  becoming  helpless  in  the  tightening  coils, 
his  gentle  mother's  face  furrowed  ever  deeper  and 
shaded  ever  sadder,  three  younger  brothers  and  his 
still  surviving  sister  likely  to  be  soon  barefoot, 
ragged,  hungry,  shivering,  and  the  very  name  of  the 
family  a  reproach  for  their  poverty;  may  we  not 
well  believe  that  the  spirit  of  such  a  boy,  conscious 
of  strength,  full  of  the  buoyancy  of  youth  and 
health  and  hope,  saw  through  the  clouds,  burned 
with  a  determination  to  uncoil  the  python  that 
was  crushing  his  father,  stop  the  fingers  that  were 
tracing  deep  lines  on  his  mother's  face,  to  lift 
with  a  strong  arm  Gilbert,  Richard,  gentle  Joan 
and  baby  Edmund  out  of  the  freezing  mire,  ac- 
cumulate   wealth    to    which    all    men    in    England 

[42] 


Cradle  and  School 

seemed  to  pay  absolute  homage,  and  by  and  by 
make  Shakespeare  a  name  for  all  the  world  to 
swear  by  and  no  longer  for  little  Stratford  to 
swear  at! 

The  boy's  day  dream  becomes  the  man's  life 
work.  Would  it  were  oftener  so.  I  fancy  him 
resolving —  "  I  will  acquire  and  maintain  a  financial 
competence;  better  than  that,  I  will  achieve  by 
strenuous  labor  the  greatest  literary  success;  I 
will  learn  all  the  wisdom  of  books,  scale  the  heights 
and  sound  the  depths  of  thought,  solve  if  I  can 
the  mysteries  of  life  and  nature,  voice  in  exquisite 
English  all  thought  and  feeling;  recognize  and 
make  manifest  a  thousand  analogies,  images, 
symbols;  transmute  all  matter  into  spirit,  all  ob- 
jects and  subjects  into  persons,  a  multitude  of 
persons  into  typical  characters;  I  will  revive  the 
buried  past,  paint  such  beauty,  mirth,  joy,  sorrow, 
terror,  as  the  world  has  rarely  seen ;  —  to  the  end 
that  flowers  may  once  more  bloom  and  the  sun 
again  shine  on  the  paths  of  brothers,  sister,  father, 
mother." 

This  was  not  the  highest  possible  motive;  but 
it  was  high.  Let  those  who  think  it  improbable 
assign  another  adequate  to  push  young  Shake- 
speare on  to  his  splendid  but  laborious  career.  Some 
great  impelling  force  there  must  have  been. 

I  love  to  think  of  such  a  childhood  and  youth. 
At  school  learning  with  an  avidity  rarely  paralleled; 

[43] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

or  at  manual  labor  by  day  and  hard  study  by 
night;  finding  an  unspeakable  joy  in  books; 
reveling  in  an  ideal  world;  the  humble  cabin  in 
whose  chimney  corner  like  Abraham  Lincoln  he 
pored  over  pages  dimly  lighted  by  the  flickering 
fire,  nightly  expanding  to  a  palace,  a  city,  a  conti- 
nent;—  he  was  laying  in  ammunition  for  a  life- 
long battle;  an  eagle's  wings  were  growing  for  a 
flight  above  the  mountain  tops! 


[44] 


NOTES  IN  STUDY  I 


Cradle  and  School 

•  Says  Dr.  Appleton  Morgan,  "  If  any  one  ever  yet  made  a  statement 
about  Shakespeare,  or  about  all  or  any  of  his  works,  which  somebody  did 
not  immediately  rise  to  contradict,  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  it."  —  A  Study 
of  the  Warwickshire  Dialect,  Preface,  x. 

2  "  There  is  evidence  in  the  Stratford  archives  that  he  could  write  with 
facility,  though  he  occasionally  made  his  mark."  —  Sidney  Lee's  Life  of 
Shakespeare,  p.  5. 

A  writer  in  The  British  Quarterly  Review,  July  1875,  affirms  that  in 
extant  registers,  charters,  leases,  etc.,  the  name  Shakespeare  is  spelled  in 
fifty-five  different  ways. 

3  Lee  states  that  the  first  recorded  holder  of  the  name  John  Shakespeare 
was  living  in  Kent  in  1279.  —  Life  of  Shakespeare,  p.  1. 

There  was  much  Celtic  blood  in  middle  England  in  that  age.  We  look 
to  the  Celts  for  fire,  poetic  fervor,  imagination;  to  the  Saxons  for  industry, 
thrift,  common  sense;  to  the  Normans  for  grace,  dignity,  elegance.  All 
these  seem  united  in  Shakespeare. 

*  In  1582  Pope  Gregory  xiii  reformed  the  Julian  Calendar  by  "  retrench- 
ing "  (annulling  ten  days),  calling  the  tenth  of  October  the  twentieth.  In 
1752  the  English  Parliament  adopted  the  Gregorian  calendar,  retrenching 
by  cutting  out  eleven  days,  making  the  third  of  September  the  fourteenth. 
We  should  therefore  fix  the  date  of  the  christening  ten  days  later  than 
the  26th  of  April. 

6  This  is  the  epithet  of  Mars  (Iliad  xv,  605)  and  of  auxiliaries  of  the 
Trojans  (Iliad  ii,  131).  But  how  easily  the  sublime  topples  over  into  the 
ridiculous!  If  William  is  only  Will,  or  as  the  Yale  president  and  the  gamins 
call  the  ex-president  of  the  U.S.,  "  Bill,"  and  Shakespeare  is  but  the 
French  Jacques-Pierre  (Jake  or  Jim  Pete)  —  "Bill  Jim  Petel  "  as  the 
street  Arabs  would  have  it,  we  are  reminded  of  the  poet  Saxe's  funny 
satire  — 

"  Of  all  the  notable  things  on  earth 
The  queerest  one  is  pride  of  birth 
Among  our  fierce  democracie; 
A  bridge  across  a  hundred  years 

Without  a  prop  to  save  it  from  sneers  — 
Not  even  a  couple  of  rotten  peers  — 
A  thing  for  laughter,  fleers  and  jeers 

Is  American  aristocracy. 


[45] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


"  Depend  upon  it,  my  snobbish  friend. 
Your  family  thread  you  can't  ascend 

Without  good  reason  to  apprehend 
You'll  find  it  waxed  at  the  farther  end 

By  some  plebeian  vocation. 
Or,  worse  than  that,  your  boasted  '  line  ' 
May  end  in  a  loop  of  stronger  twine 

That  plagued  some  worthy  relation!  " 

The  Proud  Miss  Macbride,  xiii  and  xv. 

•  The  Ardens  were  among  the  most  influential  of  the  Warwickshire  families. 
Mary's  grandfather  is  supposed  to  have  been  "  groom  of  the  chamber  " 
to  King  Henry  VII,  and  a  relative  of  Sir  John  Hampden,  the  patriot  of 
a  later  age,  whose  memory  is  dear  to  Americans.  Her  father,  Robert 
Arden,  was  a  well-to-do  farmer  of  Wilmcote  near  Stratford.  Besides 
reversionary  estate  at  Snitterfield,  three  or  four  miles  from  Stratford,  he 
left  to  his  daughter  by  his  will  dated  Nov.  24,  1556,  his  "  land  in  Wilmcote 
called  Asbies,  and  the  crop  upon  the  ground  ";  also  6  pounds,  13  shillings, 
four  pence,  in  money.  Her  property  has  been  estimated  worth  £110. 
See  Halliwell-Phillipps'  Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Shakespeare,  Vol.  II,  pp.  173- 
183;  also  Lee's  Life  of  Shakespeare,  pp.  6,  7;  T.  Spencer  Baynes'  Shake- 
speare Studies,  pp.  40,  50-56  (ed.  1894) ;  the  magazine  Shakespereana  for 
January,  1893;  French's  Shakespereana  Genealogica;  and  The  Encyclopedia 
Brilannica. 

'  Elected  in  1557,  about  the  time  that  he  became  burgess  or  councillor.  — 
An  office  requiring  taste  —  not  aesthetic,  but  of  bread  and  liquors! 

8  Like  Dogberry,  father  of  all  Malaprops,  the  constables  Elbow  (in  M. 
for  M.)  and  Dull  (in  L.L.L.)  have  the  gift  of  ludicrous  misuse  of  words. 

•  Elected  one  of  the  two  chamberlains  in  1561.  He  delivered  his  second 
statement  of  accounts  to  the  corporation  in  January,  1564. 

1"  In  1603,  says  Edward  Capell,  Shakespearian  editor  and  commentator, 
the  "  sweating  sickness  "  carried  off  about  one  fifth  of  the  population  of 
London.  The  theatres  were  closed,  as  they  had  been  ten  years  before  from 
the  same  cause. 

1'  I  suspect  we  have  a  glimpse  of  Justice  Shakespeare  in  the  "  Seven 
Ages  "  of  man. 

Then  the  Justice 
In  fair  round  belly  with  good  capon  lined. 
With  eyes  severe  and  beard  of  formal  cut, 
Full  of  wise  saws  and  modern  instances! 

As   You  Like  It,  II,  vii,  153-156,  Sprague's  ed. 


[46] 


Cradle  and  School 


"Ann,  baptized  Sept.  28,  1571,  was  buried  April  4,  1579;  leaving  sister 
Joan  and  brothers  William,  Gilbert,  Richard  and  Edmund. 

'■>  The  tenderness  of  pity  is  repeatedly  compared  in  Shakespeare  to  that 
of  a  new-born  babe.  Thus  in  Macbeth  —  sadly  misunderstood  by  Irving, 
who  thinks  the  babe  strides  the  airl  — 

And  Pity,  like  a  naked  new-born  babe, 
Striding  the  blast,  or  Heaven's  cherubin  horsed 
Upon  the  sightless  couriers  of  the  air. 
Shall  blow  the  horrid  deed  in  every  eye. 
That  tears  shall  drown  the  wind. 

—  I,  vii,  21-25;  Sprague's  ed. 

See  also  Measure  for  Measure,  II,  ii,  78,  79,  misinterpreted  by  Johnson, 
Malone,  Holt  White,  Rolfe  and  others.  The  passage,  appealing  for  pity 
and  mercy,  reads. 

How  would  you  be. 
If  He,  which  is  the  top  of  judgment,  should 
But  judge  you  as  you  are?     O,  think  on  that! 
And  Mercy  then  will  breathe  within  your  lips 
Like  man  new  made!  (i.e.  with  tenderness  like  that  of  a  babe!) 
See  also  Hamlet,  III,  iii,  70,  71,  Sprague's  ed. 

"  See  Halliwell-Phillipps'  Outlines,  I,  pp.  38,  39. 

In  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  the  wealthy  old  Baptista  of  Padua  will 
provide  a  special  instructor  in  languages  and  another  in  music  for  his  two 
daughters.     (I,  i,  92-96.) 

See  the  second  of  this  series  of  Studies;  viz,  Shakespeare's  Early  Man- 
hood, page  76. 

>6  The  Stratford  Grammar  School,  established  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV 
by  a  priest,  Thomas  Jolyffe,  a  "  brother  "  of  the  ancient  guild  of  The  Holy 
Cross,  had  been  seized  by  Henry  VIII  on  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries 
(1636  or  1637).  After  fifteen  years  of  suspension  it  was  re-founded  and 
re-incorporated  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI,  and  thenceforward  was  known 
as  "  King  Edward  Vlth's  Grammar  School,"  or  "  The  King's  New  School." 

The  masters  were  noted  for  their  learning  and  high  character.  Thomas 
Hunt  was  Principal  during  the  six  years  of  William's  attendance  (1572- 
1577). 

The  best  authority  on  the  curriculum  is  probably  the  late  T.  Spencer 
Baynes,  editor  of  the  ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica.  In  his 
Shakespeare  Studies  and  Other  Essays  his  exhaustive  article  on  Shakespeare 
is  reprinted  from  the  Encyclopedia.    He  affirms  as  follows:  — 


[47] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


The  pupil  entered  the  school  at  seven  years  old,  having  already  acquired 
the  rudiments  of  reading  and  writing.  During  the  first  year  the  pupils 
were  occupied  with  the  elements  of  Latin  Grammar,  the  accidence  [inflec- 
tions], and  lists  of  words  committed  to  memory  and  repeated  two  or  three 
times  a  week.  ...  In  the  second  year  the  grammar  was  fully  mastered, 
and  the  boys  were  drilled  in  short  phrase-books.  ...  In  the  third  year  the 
books  used  were  ^Esop's  Fables,  Cato's  Maxims,  and  some  good  manual 
of  school  conversation.  .  .  .  The  constant  speaking  of  Latin  by  all  the 
boys  of  the  most  advanced  forms  was  indispensable  even  in  the  smallest 
and  poorest  of  the  country  grammar  schools.  .  .  .  The  books  read  in  the 
more  advanced  forms  were  the  Eclogues  of  Mantuanus,  the  Tristia  and 
Metamorphoses  of  Ovid;  Cicero's  Offices,  Orations,  and  Epistles;  Virgil's 
Georgics  and  ^neid;  parts  of  Juvenal;  parts  of  Terence,  Plautus,  and 
Seneca.  .  .  .  The  teaching  even  in  the  country  grammar  schools  was  as  a 
rule  painstaking,  intelligent,  and  fruitful.  .  .  .  The  masters  were  university 
men  of  at  least  average  attainments  and  ability,  as  they  rapidly  gained 
promotion  in  the  church."  For  more  details  see  Baynes'  Shakespeare  Studies, 
pp.  68-73. 

1' Nicholas  Rowe  (1674-1718),  dramatist,  translator,  poet-laureate,  pro- 
duced in  1709  the  first  critical  edition  of  the  plays.  It  was  in  six  octavo 
volumes,  to  which  he  prefixed  a  memoir  of  Shakespeare,  very  valuable  so 
far  as  it  goes.  See  copious  extracts  from  it  in  Halliwell-Phillipps'  Outlines, 
Vol.  II,  72-76.  "  In  all  probability  William's  father  removed  him  from 
school  when  he  was  about  thirteen  "  (idem,  Vol.  I,  57). 

1'  Lowell  Lectures  by  Orville  Dewey,  D.D.  (1794-1882). 

"We  suspect  that,  following  Dr.  George  P.  Marsh  (1801-1882),  who  in 
his  Lectures  on  the  English  Language  (1861-2)  counts  only  base  [stem  or 
root]  words,  we  commonly  underestimate  the  number.  Thus  Dr.  Appleton 
Morgan,  founder  and  president  of  the  late  N.  Y.  Shakespeare  Soc,  in  his 
Warwickshire  Dialed  (p.  60)  published  in  1899,  credits  "  the  English  peas- 
ant "  with  only  500;  "  the  average  tradesman,  at  most  4,000;  Milton, 
7,000."  Following  Prof.  Geo.  L.  Craik  (1798-1866),  he  allows  Shakespeare 
21,000. 

But  Prof.  Edward  S.  Holden,  ex-president  of  the  University  of  California 
and  ex-director  of  Lick  Observatory,  in  an  article  in  the  Washington 
Phil.  Soc.  Bulletin  (V,  1,  App.  i,  1874),  and  in  the  Smithson.  Misc.  Coll. 
(Vol.  XX,  App.  6,  May  30,  1875),  and  subsequently  in  a  personal  letter  to 
me,  in  which  he  quotes  the  late  Dr.  W.  D.  Whitney  (1827-1904),  Editor- 
in-Chief  of  the  Century  Dictionary,  in  approbation  of  his  method  of  enumera- 
tion, says  as  follows:  —  "I  find  that  Milton,  in  his  poems  alone,  uses 
17,377  words.  His  prose  would  yield  a  much  larger  number.  ...  In  the 
English  Bible  there  are  7,209  words,  exclusive  of  proper  names.  .  .  . 
Shakespeare's     vocabulary     contains     over     24,000.  .  .  .  Marsh     {English 


[48] 


Cradle  and  School 

Language,  1862)  took  only  the  simple  or  stem,  and  not  the  inflected  forma 
of  the  vocables.  In  the  sense  in  wliich  I  use  the  terra,  "  lover,"  "  love- 
less," and  "  lovely  "  are  three  words,  though  they  have  the  same  simple 
or  stem."  Holden  relies  on  the  accuracy  of  Cruden  (Concordance  to  the 
Bible,  1737),  Charles  and  Mary  Cowden  Clarke  {Concordance  to  Shake- 
speare's Plays,  1845),  and  Charles  Dexter  Cleveland  (Concordance  to  Milton. 
18S3).  Edwin  Reed  (in  the  Arena)  declares  that  Shakespeare  (meaning 
BaconI)  introduced  5,000  new  words  into  the  English  Language. 

"Lowell's  Among  My  Books  (Vol.  I,  pp.  155,  169). 

20  Beyond  most  authors  he  was  an  inveterate  phrase  monger,  an  experi- 
menter with  words,  trying  all  sorts  of  linguistic  gymnastics.  We  imagine 
him  ever  turning,  twisting,  recasting  sentences  and  selecting  the  best.  His 
nice  adjustments  of  sound  and  sense  are  seen  where  we  should  least  look 
for  them.  For  instance,  note  the  alliteration  and  assonance  in  the  paper 
which  Arteraidorus  reads  in  Julius  Ccesar;  "  Beware  of  Brutus;  take  heed 
of  Cassius;  come  wot  near  Casca;  have  an  eye  to  Cinna;  trust  not  Tre- 
bonius;  mark  well  Metellus  Cimber;  Decius  Brutus  loves  thee  not;  thou 
hast  wronged  Caius  Ligarius."  (Sprague's  ed.,  II,  iii,  1-4.) — So  in  Brutus's 
famous  speech,  in  which  Shakespeare  admirably  reproduces  "  the  sententious 
laconic  style,"  which  Plutarch  tells  us  Brutus  affected.  "  Who  is  here  so 
base  that  would  be  a  ftondman?  Who  is  here  so  rude  that  would  not  be  a 
i?oman?  Who  is  here  so  die  that  will  not  lot^e  his  country?  1/  any, 
speak;  /or  him  have  I  o#ended."  —  Julius  Casar,  III,  ii,  27-31  (Sprague's 
ed.). 

Note  his  nice  discrimination  of  meanings;  e.g.  in  "  oppugnancy,"  "  pro- 
pugnation,"  and  "repugnancy,"  respectively,  in  Troil.  bf  Cres.,  I,  iii.  111; 
II.  ii,  136;    Timon  of  A.,  Ill,  v,  45. 

As  to  "  weight  of  meaning  superimposed  on  single  words,"  see  Lowell's 
Among  My  Books,  Vol.   I,  p.   173. 

For  his  conception  of  "  words  and  ideas  "  as  almost  if  not  quite  identical, 
and  his  laborious  verbal  ingenuities,  see  Prof.  Barrett  Wendell's  William 
Shakespeare,  pp.  55,  56,  63,  64,  65,  416,  etc. 

SI  Page  171,  Hurd  &  Houghton's  ed. 

^^  Antony  and  Cleopatra.  V,  ii,  216-220. —  The  first  woman  actor  on  the 
stage  was  probably  Mrs.  Margaret  Hughes,  Prince  Rupert's  favorite, 
presenting  Desdemona,  Dec.  8,  1660.  Afterwards,  from  1663  on.  the  wife 
of  the  great  actor,  Thomas  Betterton,  personated  some  of  Shakespeare's 
prominent  female  characters.  —  Lee's  Life  of  S.,  334,  335. 

23  Language  and  the  Science  of  Language,  338.  —  See  Sprague's  notes  on 
"  pleasure,"  Phebe,  and   "  out-herods  "  in  the  plays. 

2«  Hamlet,  II,  ii,  279-305;  367,  368  (Sprague's  ed.)  —  For  other  specimens 
of  his  prose  see  The  Merchant  of    Venice,  III,  i.  33-58,  Sprague's  ed.;    also 

[49] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

King  Lear,  I,  ii,  93-119;    126-130;    and  especially  the  astonishing  passage 
in  Lear,  II,  ii,  13-21. 

«6See  Tempest,  1,  ii,  144;  III,  i,  38;  Macbeth,  I,  vii,  64;  IV,  iii,  142; 
Midsummer  N.  D.,  II,  i,  92;    and  the  notes  in  Sprague's  editions. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  how  strenuously  some  pedants  fought  against 
the  introduction  of  foreign  words  into  the  English  language  three  hundred 
years  ago.  Thus  in  1619,  the  year  in  which  young  Milton  entered  St.  Paul's 
School,  the  Head  Master,  Alexander  Gill,  published  a  book  {Logonomia 
Anglica)  in  which  he  inveighs  against  the  influx  of  Latin  and  French. 
"  O  harsh  lips!  "  he  says;  "  I  now  hear  all  around  me  such  words  as 
'common,'  'vices,'  'envy,'  'malice,'  even  'virtue,'  'study,'  'justice,' 
'pity,'  'mercy,'  'compassion,'  'profit,'  'commodity,'  'color,'  'grace,' 
'  favor  '!  Are  our  words  to  be  exiled  like  our  citizens?  Is  the  new  bar- 
baric invasion  to  extirpate  the  English  tongue?  "  But  Gill  himself  in  the 
last  two  sentences  uses  five  of  the  class  of  obnoxious  words  he  so  stigma- 
tizes  ('  exiled,'   '  citizens,'  '  barbaric,'   '  invasion,'   '  extirpate  '). 

^  The  earliest  printed  translation  of  Plautus's  Menaechmi  was  that  of 
William  Warner  in  1595.  Dowden  and  the  other  recent  commentators 
assign  the  composition  of  the  Comedy  of  Errors  to  a  date  not  later  than 
1591.  —  On  the  title  page  of  "  The  first  heir  of  my  invention,"  as  he  styles 
his  earliest  published  poem,  Venus  and  Adonis,  is  an  elegant  quotation  as  a 
motto  from  Ovid's  Amores,  more  advanced  Latin  than  any  of  the  selections 
from  Ovid  studied  in  the  Stratford  school.     It  reads, 

Vilia  miretur  vulgus:  mihi  flavus  Apollo 
Pocula  Castalia  plena  ministrat  aqua. 

="  Hal,  Harry  of  Monmouth,  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  King  Henry  V, 
is  evidently  one  of  Shakespeare's  most  favorite  characters.  In  him,  as 
almost  all  the  critics  agree,  we  see  much  of  Shakespeare  himself.  Perhaps 
we  may  find  in  Warwick's  apology  some  explanation  of  William's  youthful 
escapades,  if  we  admit  their  existence.  See  note  32  in  our  Study  of  Shake- 
speare's Early  Manhood,  and  the  quotation  there  from  3  King  Henry  IV\ 
the  language  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  to  the  king.  Note  in  it  the  last 
word,  "  hated."  Taken  in  connection  with  Henry's  after  treatment  of 
these  boon  companions,  it  tends  to  confirm  Warwick's  estimate.  Certainly 
it  throws  light  upon  Henry's,  and  indirectly  upon  Shakespeare's  character. 
Each  hated  indecency.  See  Henry  V.  I,  i,  24-30,  54-59;  HI,  vi,  94,  95; 
and  especially  2   Henry  IV,  V,  v,  5-66. 

28  "  A  parallel  to  Jonson's  statement  is  found  in  a  Memoir  by  Edward 
Bathurst,  B.D.  of  his  friend  Arthur  Wilson,  written  before  1646;  in  which 
he  says  that  "  Wilson  '  had  little  skill  in  the  Latin  tongue  and  less  in  the 
Greek  ';    and  yet  .  .  .  had  been  a  fellow-commoner  at  Oxford  .  .  .  regular 


[50] 


Cradle  and  School 

and  studious,  and  could  at  a  pinch,  speak  Latin."  See  Richard  Grant 
White's  Memoirs  of  William  Shakespeare  (in  Vol.  I  of  White's  Shakespeare 
in  12  vols.),  pp.  xix,  xx. 

"E.g.;  Ate,  anthropophagi,  anlhropophaginian,  charactery,  chirurgeonly, 
atomy,  abysm,  apoplex,  cataplasm,  epilheton,  practic,  theoric,  thrasonical, 
threnos,  misanthropos.  In  The  Tempest,  II.  i,  136,  and  Julius  Ccesar,  I,  i, 
24,  26  (Sprague's  editions),  he  appears  to  recognize  the  substantial  identity 
in  sense  of  the  three  words,  chirurgeon,  surgeon  and  hand-worker. 

•"The  literal  rendering  of  lines  1171-1173  (.Eleclra,  Jebb's  ed.)  is  as 
follows: 

"  Reflect,  Electra;  mortal  sire  thou'rt  sprung  from; 
Mortal,  Orestes  too:  sigh  not  too  sore,  then; 
For  to  us  all  to  suffer  this  is  due." 

«'  Some  of  these  coincidences  I  have  come  upon  in  my  reading  and  have 
not  found  them  mentioned.  In  the  only  then  existing  English  translation 
of  Homer,  that  of  George  Chapman,  the  original  is  not  so  closely  followed 
by  him  as  by  Shakespeare.  Chapman's  translation  of  "  Seven  Books  of 
the  Iliads  "  (i,  ii,  vii-xi)  appeared  in  1598;  tliat  of  twelve  books,  in  1610; 
of  all  the  twenty-four,  in  1611;  of  both  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  in  1616. — 
^schylus,  Sophocles,  Euripides,  Plato,  and  Lucian  were  not  Englished  till 
after  Shakespeare's  time. 

Of  Greek  idioms,  Shakespeare  has  many  instances;  as  of  the  attraction 
of  the  relative  into  the  case  of  the  antecedent;  of  double  comparatives  or 
superlatives.  So  of  a  double  negative  to  strengthen  the  negation;  though 
well  aware  of  the  modern  rule  now  universally  binding.  He  says,  "  If  your 
four  negatives  make  your  two  affirmatives,"  etc.  (Twelfth  Night,  V,  i, 
18,  19).  —  In  Xenophon's  Anabasis,  I,  iii,  21,  the  literal  rendering  is,  "  Not 
even  in  this  place  did  nobody  hear,"  etc.  In  The  Merchant  of  V.  Portia 
says,  "  I  cannot  choose  one  nor  refuse  none."  See  notes  in  Sprague's  ed., 
I,  ii,  23;  IV,  i,  54.  —  Ben  Jonson  approved  the  use  of  the  double  com- 
parative and  superlative.  He  characterized  it  as  "  a  certain  kind  of  English 
Atticism,  imitating  the  manner  of  the  most  ancientest  and  finest  Grecians"! 

^  An  interesting  and  not  unprofitable  study  would  be  to  examine  all  the 
great  dramas  of  antiquity  for  parallelisms;  not  to  confirm  or  refute  any 
theory  of  authorship,  but  to  show  how  the  foremost  writers  think  alike. 
One  familiar  with  Shakespeare  but  not  with  Sophocles  will  be  struck  with 
the  curious  coincidences  of  thought,  sometimes  even  of  phrase.  Compare 
'■  cuts  to  the  quick  "  in  Ajax,  786  (Jebb's  ed.,  Oxford  Translation),  with 
Hamlet.  II,  ii,  587,  and  The  Tempest.  V,  i,  25  (Sprague's  ed.);  "makes 
hairs  to  stand  upright"  in  Oedipus  Coloneus,  1624-5,  with  Hamlet,  I,  v,  19 
(Sprague's  ed.);     "Great  Jove  be   my  witness"   in    Trachiniae,   399,   with 


[51] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


Henry  VIII,  II,  iv,  22,  and  with  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  II,  vi,  25,  and 
with  All's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  IV,  ii,  24;  "Strong  necessity  compels" 
in  Philoctetes,  921-2,  with  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  I,  iii,  42.  (Of  course 
Vergil's  steterunt  comae;  Aeneid,  ii,  774,  will  be  recalled.) 

In  the  choice  of  epithets  Shakespeare  will  hyphenate  words  after  the 
manner  of  George  Chapman.  A  remarkable  instance  is  in  Julius  Ceesar . 
In  the  first  copy,  that  is  in  the  first  Folio  (1623),  we  find  the  phrase 
"  Tempest-dropping-fire."  Here  the  three  words  are  compound  as  shown 
by  the  hyphens,  and  they  present  one  of  the  grandest  images  the  imagina- 
tion ever  conceived,  a  deluge  of  mingled  fire  and  tempest  dropping  from 
the  sky  I  It  has  been  spoiled  by  all,  or  nearly  all  editors,  prior  to  myself, 
by  striking  out  the  hyphensl     See  note  in  Sprague's  ed.,  I,  iii,  10. 

33  Let  college  sophomores,  who  from  their  lofty  standpoint  are  wont  to 
look  down  with  pity  and  think  what  heights  Shakespeare  might  have 
attained,  had  he  possessed  their  learning,  be  comforted.  He  probably 
knew  more  Latin  than  the  average  college  student,  e.xcept  in  the  second 
year! 

3*  Because  Ancient  Pistol  in  Henry  IV  (Act  IV,  iv,  19-21)  thinks  the 
French  soldier  says  brass,  when  the  French  word  is  "  bras,"  it  has  been 
argued  that  the  dramatist  did  not  know  the  5  to  be  silent.  The  sufficient 
answer  is  that  in  the  year  1415,  either  the  5  was  sounded,  as  all  silent 
letters  once  were,  or,  if  not,  the  sound  was  near  enough  to  "  brass  "  to 
excuse  Pistol's  blunder,  especially  as  he  is  thinking  of  ransom  money! 

35  The  original  of  Shakespeare's  "sibyl"  is  the  sad  Cassandra,  who, 
Ariosto  tells  us,  gave  the  embroidered  tent  to  her  brother  Hector,  from 
whom  it  came  to  Helen  and  Menelaus;  thence  to  King  Proteus  of  Egi'pt; 
thence  to  Cleopatra,  and  finally  to  Constantine  and  Melissa.  See  the  last 
canto  of  Orlando  Furioso.     Stanza  80  reads. 


Eran  de  gli  anni  oppresso  che  duo  milia 
Che  fu  quel  ricco  padiglion  trapunto. 
Una  donzella  de  la  terra  d'  Ilia 
Ch'  avea  il  furor  profetico  congiunto. 
Con  studio  di  gran  tempo  e  con  vigilia, 
Lo  fece  di  sua  man,  di  tutto  punto. 


s«  Berni's  rifacimento  is  superior  to  the  original  of  Boiardo.  After  his 
death  in  1536  it  was  thrice  reprinted  in  the  next  ten  years.  The  stanza 
(St.  1,  Canto  LI),  from  which  Shakespeare  is  supposed  to  have  drawn,  is 
thus  happily  translated  by  R.  G.  White: 


[52] 


Cradle  and  School 

"  The  man  who  steals  a  horn,  a  horse,  a  ring. 

Or  such  a  trifle,  thieves  with  moderation 
And  may  be  justly  called  a  robberling; 

But  he  who  takes  away  a  reputation. 
And  pranks  in  feathers  from  another's  wing, — 

His  deed  is  robbery,  assassination. 
And  merits  punishment  so  much  the  greater 

As  he  to  right  and  truth  is  more  a  traitor." 

^''Merchant  of  Venice,  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  Much  Ado  about  Nothing, 
All's  Well  Thai  Ends  Well,  Measure  for  Measure,  Romeo  and  Juliet,  and 
Othello. 

3s  This  was  written  in  Spanish  in  1542  by  the  Portuguese  poet  Jorge.  See 
Hallam's  Literature,  Longfellow's  Poets  and  Poetry  of  Europe,  and  Ticknor's 
History  of  Spanish  Literature. 

39  We  can  readily  believe  that  this  inquisitive  and  ardent  mind,  perhaps 
over-eager  at  times  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  knowledge,  would  look  into  all 
sorts  of  places,  try  all  kinds  of  experiences,  study  all  types  of  characters; 
but  that,  even  in  his  escapades,  like  his  favorite  prince,  under  the  veil  of 
seeming  dissipation  he  was  ever  observing,  apprehending,  comprehending, 
digesting,  co-ordinating;  and,  unsuspected  by  his  wild  companions,  was 
utilizing  in  solitude  and  midnight  the  hours  they  had  lost  in  thoughtless 
mirth.  See  the  first  half  dozen  and  the  last  dozen  paragraphs  in  our 
Study  of  Shakespeare's  Early  Manhood. 

^ "  Lea  gens  de  qualite  savent  tout  sans  avoir  jamais  rien  appris."  — 
Les  PrScieuses  Ridicules  of  Moliere  (1659). 

^'  For  a  vivid  description  see  Homer's  Odyssey,  iii,  430-463. 

^1    Henry  IV,  II,  iv,  242-3. 

*^  Curiously  enough  the  Registry  of  the  proceedings  of  the  court  at 
Stratford  for  sixteen  years  (1569-1585),  from  William's  fifth  year  to  his 
twenty-second,  are  missing.  Possibly  some  light  on  his  boyhood  and 
youth  or  on  his  father's  misfortunes  has  thus  been  lost. 


[53] 


Study  II 
Shakespeare's  Early  Manhood 


He  was  not  of  an  age,  but  for  all  time! 

And  all  the  Muses  still  were  in  their  prime 

When,  like  Apollo,  he  came  forth  to  warm 

Our  ears,  or  like  a  Mercury  to  charm! 

Nature  herself  was  proud  of  his  designs, 

And  joyed  to  wear  the  dressing  of  his  lines! 

Which  were  so  richly  spun  and  wove  so  fit 

As,  since,  she  will  vouchsafe  no  other  wit. 

Yet  must  I  not  give  Nature  all:   thy  art. 

My  gentle  Shakespeare,  must  enjoy  a  part; 

For,  though  the  poet's  matter  nature  be, 

His  art  doth  give  the  fashion;   and  so  he 

Who  casts  to  write  a  living  line  must  sweat  — 

Such  as  thine  are  —  and  strike  the  second  heat 

Upon  the  Muse's  anvil,  turn  the  same 

And  himself  with  it  that  he  thinks  to  frame; 

Or,  for  the  laurel,  he  may  gain  a  scorn; 

For  a  good  poet  's  made  as  well  as  born. 

And  such  wert  thou.     Look  how  the  father's  face 

Lives  in  his  issue;   even  so  the  race 

Of  Shakespeare's  mind  and  manners  brightly  shines 

In  his  well-turned  and  true-filed  lines. 

In  each  of  which  he  seems  to  shake  a  lance 

As  brandished  at  the  eyes  of  ignorance.  — 

' — Ben  Jonson,  London,   1623, 


STUDY   II 
SHAKESPEARE'S  EARLY  MANHOOD 

A    STUDY   OF   HIS    MARRIAGE,    PEDAGOGY,    LAW, 
AND    FOUNDATIONS 

One  of  the  most  surprising  phenomena  in  the 
history  of  Literature  is  WilHam  Shakespeare.  How- 
to  account  for  him  is  the  problem.  For  more  than 
eighteen  years  from  the  date  of  his  christening, 
April  26,  1564,  to  that  of  his  licence  to  marry, 
November  28,  1582,  no  word  or  act  of  his  is  re- 
corded, nor  is  there  any  mention  of  him  by  a 
contemporary.  We  may  be  sure  that  in  this 
period  of  "  darkness  visible  "  great  forces  were  at 
work  within  him  and  deep  foundations  were  being 
laid. 

What  were  those  forces,  and  what  those  founda- 
tions? Probably  this  mystery  will  never  be  com- 
pletely cleared  up.  But  whether  solved  or  not, 
even  a  slight  attempt  at  its  elucidation  may  prove 
not  altogether  uninteresting  or  unfruitful. 

Normally  every  child  hungers  to  know,  to  under- 
stand. He  can  say  with  Francis  Bacon,  "  I  have 
taken  all  knowledge  to  be  my  province." 

Some  years  later  a  few  of  the  most  gifted,  like 
Milton  or  Goethe,  fashion  to  themselves  an  ideal 
of  a  mind  not  only  thoroughly  informed,  but  also 

[57] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

symmetrical,  strong,  perfectly  disciplined;  "a 
man,"  to  use  Hamlet's  words,  "  noble  in  reason, 
infinite  in  faculty,  in  form  and  moving  express  and 
admirable,  in  action  like  an  angel,  in  apprehension 
like  a  god!  " 

Soon  a  few  of  these,  like  Alexander  Pope,  Wil- 
liam Wordsworth,  Robert  Browning,  Alfred  Tenny- 
son, take  another  step,  make  it  a  life-work  to 
clothe  all  in  most  felicitous  poetic  dress. 

Suppose  the  boy  Shakespeare  aimed  at  this  three- 
fold excellence  with  special  emphasis  on  the  first 
and  last:  universal  knowledge,  highest  culture, 
happiest  expression.  Given  this  triple  aim  —  let  it 
be  cherished  incessantly  during  forty  or  fifty 
years  —  given  all  the  while  perfect  health,  fair  intel- 
lect, and  a  genius  for  labor,  the  most  indispensable 
kind  of  genius,  there  needs  but  one  thing  more  to 
ensure  eminence  in  literature,  and  that  is  proper 
tools  and  materials,  chiefly  books.  Whether  as  a 
source  of  information,  an  apparatus  for  mental 
gymnastics,  or  an  auxiliary  and  test  with  models  in 
expression,  books  of  the  right  sort  would  seem  to 
be  indispensable. 

Our  ancestors  had  few,  but  they  used  them  well. 
I  sometimes  think  we  have  too  many.  They  did 
less  reading,  more  thinking.  Fountains  now  are 
multiplied  a  hundredfold;  we  sip  from  many, 
drink  deep  of  none.  Butterflies,  not  bees,  we  taste 
of  a  thousand  flowers;  we  store  up  no  honey. 
So     did     not     Shakespeare.     Ex-president     Eliot's 

[58] 


His  Early  Manhood 

five-foot    shelf    would    have    sufficed    to    hold    his 
library.^ 

But  what  books  they  were!  A  multitude  of 
passages  attest  his  acquaintance  with  the  greatest 
of  our  literatures,  the  English  Bible  including  the 
Apocrypha.  Evidently,  too,  he  has  studied  that 
wonderful  compilation  sometimes  termed  "  The 
Bible  of  Heroisms,"  Pkitarch's  Lives.  He  makes 
much  use  of  Holinshed's  The  Chronicles  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  He  is  in  love  with  Ovid's 
Metamorphoses.  I  have  elsewhere  shown  in  him 
slight  traces  of  the  great  Greeks,  ^schylus, 
Sophocles,  Euripides;  Homer,  Xenophon,  Lucian, 
possibly  Plato;  of  the  Latin  Plautus,  Ennius,  Ver- 
gil, Horace,  Terence,  Seneca,  possibly  Cicero;  the 
French  Rabelais  and  Montaigne;  the  Italian 
Boccaccio,  Cinthio,  probably  Ariosto  and  Berni, 
possibly  Dante;  very  likely  the  celebrated  Spanish 
romance,  Diana  Enamorada;  English  Chaucer, 
Spenser,  Bacon.  I  have  named  about  thirty 
authors.  We  can  be  sure  of  but  few,  if  any, 
others.     These  proved  to  be  enough. 

But  a  youth  of  eighteen,  feeding  on  books, 
buoyant  with  health  and  hope,  eager  to  acquire  all 
knowledge,  discipline  all  faculties,  embalm  in  musi- 
cal speech,  like  insects  in  amber,  all  thought, 
feeling,  imagery  —  such  a  youth,  seeing  visions 
and  dreaming  dreams  and  nursing  the  fire  of  am- 
bition,  is   sure   to   awaken   some   day   to   the   con- 

[59] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

sciousness  of  another  flame.  A  glory  transfigures 
the  other  sex.  The  more  intense  and  guileless  the 
nature,  the  more  complete  the  illusion.  Bright 
candle,  dazzled  moth!  Witness  keen  Sir  Thomas 
More,  saintly  Richard  Hooker,  elegant  Edmund 
Spenser,  burly  Ben  Jonson,  magnificent  John  Mil- 
ton, politic  John  Dryden,  genial  Joseph  Addison! 
witness  Socrates,  Dante,  Montaigne,  Moliere,  Rous- 
seau, Shelley,  Byron,  Landor,  Charles  Dickens, 
Charles  Sumner,  John  Ruskin,  and  a  host  of  other 
wits,  poets,  scholars,  philosophers,  who,  so  the 
cynics  tell  us,  lost  their  brains  when  they  lost  their 
hearts,  and  thought  they  courted  angels,  but  found 
they  had  married  women! 

Anne  Hathaway  was  twenty-six,  William  Shake- 
speare about  eighteen.'  They  are  supposed  to  have 
married  at  these  respective  ages  "  upon  once  asking 
of  the  banns,"  two  Stratford  farmers  signing  a 
bond  to  save  harmless  the  Bishop  of  Worcester  for 
licensing  this  unusual  haste.^  The  license  is  to 
"  solemnize."  The  marriage,  as  many  think,  may 
have  existed  before,  what  has  been  called  a  "  com- 
mon-law "  marriage,  without  either  cW\\  or  ec- 
clesiastical ceremonies  —  not  a  very  solemn  affair! 

Early  in  the  morning  of  my  first  Sunday  in 
England  I  walked  a  mile  through  the  fields  to  the 
neat  cottage  of  Anne  Hathaway.^  Entering  I 
faced  an  old-fashioned  fireplace,  in  opposite  corners 
of  which  William  and  Anne  are  supposed  to  have 
sat  with  a  great  fire  of  logs  and  love  between  them. 

[60] 


His  Early  Manhood 

Mrs.  Baker,  the  housekeeper,  who  died  sixteen 
years  ago,  claimed  to  be  a  descendant  of  the 
Hathaways.  She  graciously  greeted  us  visitors, 
and  politely  thanked  us  for  our  sixpences.  In  a 
room  overhead  was  an  heirloom,  bed  and  bedstead, 
said  to  have  come  down  from  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  Shakespeare's  "  courting  chair,"  if  it 
ever  existed,  had  disappeared.  Of  what  earthly  use 
was  a  "  courting  chair,"  when  there  was  the  settle, 
a  long  high-backed  stout  bench  much  better 
adapted  than  a  chair  or  a  fireplace  for  amatory 
negotiations?  I  was  told  there  was  once  a  cheap 
print  purporting  to  show  Shakespeare's  wooing; 
but  that,  too,  had  vanished.  We  consoled  our- 
selves with  the  reflection  that  it  must  have  been 
imaginary;  for  artists  were  not  invited;  kodaks, 
flash-lights,  snap-shots  had  not  been  invented; 
reporters  and  newspaper  interviewers  with  all  their 
forty-auger  power  were  in  the  distant  future;  and 
Peeping  Tom  had  died  at  Coventry  five  hundred 
years  before. 

Richard  Grant  White,  Sidney  Lee  and  many 
other  eminent  scholars  will  have  it  that  in  this 
matrimonial  business  William  was  the  sought  and 
not  the  seeker.  With  Halliwell-Phillipps  we  prefer 
to  think  differently  —  that  he  was  a  passionate 
lover.  ^ 

A  passionate  lover!  He  who  depicted  the  sin- 
cerity and  intensity  of  so  many  from  Romeo  and 
Juliet    to    Ferdinand    and    Miranda,    we    may    rest 

[61] 


Sttidies  in  Shakespeare 

assured,  was  not  speaking  from  hearsay  but  from 
personal  experience.  Let  me  with  reverence  il- 
lustrate my  reasoning.  With  irresistible  logic  to 
prove  that  our  Creator  is  all-hearing  and  all-seeing, 
the  Psalmist  asks,  "  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall 
He  not  hear?  He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  He 
not  see?  "  Says  Emerson,  "  What  lover  has 
Shakespeare  not  out-loved?  "  He  tells  us  lovers 
have  "  seething  brains."  He  couples  them  with 
lunatics!     Hear  him  — 

Lovers  and  madmen  have  such  seething  brains, 

Such  shaping  fantasies,  that  apprehend 

More  than  cool  reason  ever  comprehends! 

The  lunatic,  the  lover,  and  the  poet 

Are  of  Imagination  all  compact: 

One  sees  more  devils  than  vast  hell  can  hold; 

That  Is  the  madman:    the  lover,  all  as  frantic, 

Sees  Helen's  beauty  in  a  brow  of  Egypt! 

Midsummer  Night' sDream,  V,  i,  4-11.     (Sprague's  ed.) 

To  the  same  effect  Rosalind's  wise  bantering  of 
Orlando  in  ^.y    You  Like  It  — 

Love  Is  merely  a  madness,  and,  I  tell  you,  desers'es 
as  well  a  dark  house  and  a  whip  as  madmen  do;  and 
the  reason  why  they  are  not  so  punished  and  cured  is 
that  the  lunacy  is  so  ordinary  that  the  whippers  are 
In  love  too!  —  As  You  Like  It,  III,  il,  371-375. 
(Sprague's  ed.) 

Was  Shakespeare,  then,  inexperienced,  guessing, 
and,    except    as    an    observer    or    reporter,    really 

[62] 


His  Early  Manhood 

ignorant  of  what  he  so  vividly  portrayed?  Must 
it  not  be  that,  Hke  poor  Troilus,  he  was  for  a  while 
fascinated,  intoxicated,  bewildered,  blinded?  Can 
we  doubt  that  he  sought  the  marriage? 

Let  us  not  blame  him  for  this.  "  All  the  world 
loves  a  lover."  Must  w^e  blame  her?  Surely  not 
for  the  difTerence  of  eight  years  between  their 
ages.  Many  appropriate  marriages  have  occurred 
where  there  was  a  greater  disparity  in  this  respect. 
But  ought  a  woman  of  twenty-six  to  allow  a  boy  of 
eighteen  to  become  her  husband  when  there  is  no 
property  in  sight,  no  income,  no  means  of  support? 
At  first  blush  it  looks  as  if  neither  had  arrived  at 
years  of  discretion!^ 

What  did  he  think  of  this  afterwards?  that  his 
marriage  was  premature?  that  a  wrong  had  been 
done  him?  that  wife  should  not  be  older  than 
husband? 

After  fifteen  or  twenty  years  he  wrote  his  Twelfth 
Night.  In  this  drama  we  may  reasonably  assume 
that  Duke  Orsino  was  about  Anne  Hathaway's 
age,  say  twenty-five  or  twenty-six;  that  the  fair 
Viola  was  about  Shakespeare's  age,  say  eighteen. 
The  Duke  is  trying  to  woo  and  win  the  Countess 
Olivia.  She  does  not  reciprocate  his  passion. 
Viola  is  enamored  of  him,  but  he  doesn't  know  it. 
To  be  near  him  she  has  disguised  herself  as  a  boy 
and  entered  his  service  as  a  page.  Little  does  he 
dream  that  his  handsome  young  attendant  is  a 
woman!     Melancholy  because   the   Countess   rejects 

[63] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

his    suit,    he    calls    for    music    after    the    fashion    of 
lovers  to  soothe  his  sorrow.''     Listen  — 

If  music  be  the  food  of  love,  play  on. 

That  strain  again!    it  had  a  dying  fall: 

Oh,  it  came  o'er  my  ear  like  the  sweet  sound 

That  breathes  upon  a  bank  of  violets 

Stealing  and  giving  odors.  ...  —  Twelfth  Night,  I,  i,  1-7. 


Come  hither,  boy.  —  If  ever  thou  shalt  love. 

In  the  sweet  pangs  of  it  remember  me; 

For  such  as  I  am  all  true  lovers  are, 

Unstaid  and  skittish  in  all  motions  else, 

Save  in  the  constant  image  of  the  creature 

That  is  beloved.  —  How  dost  thou  like  this  tune? 

Viola.     It  gives  a  very  echo  to  the  seat 

Where  Love  is  throned! 

Duke.  Thou  dost  speak  masterly: 

My  life  upon  't,  young  though  thou  art,  thine  eye 

Hath  stayed  upon  some  favor  that  it  loves; 

Hath  it  not,  boy? 

Viola.  A  little,  by  your  favor. 

Duke.     What  kind  of  woman  is  't? 

Viola.  Of  your  complexion. 

Duke.     She  is  not  worth  thee,  then.     What  years,  i'  faith? 

Viola.     About  your  years,  my  lord.  — 

Duke.     Too  old,  by  heaven!     Let  still  the  woman  take 

An  elder  than  herself:   so  wears  she  to  him, 

So  sways  she  level  in  her  husband's  heart: 

For,  boy,  however  we  do  praise  ourselves, 

Our  fancies  are  more  giddy  and  unfirm. 

More  longing,  wavering,  sooner  lost  and  worn 

Than  women's  are. 

[64] 


His  Early  Manhood 

Viola.  I  think  it  well,  my  lord. 

Duke.    Then  let  thy  love  be  younger  than  thyself, 
Or  thy  affection  cannot  hold  the  bent; 
For  women  are  as  roses,  whose  fair  flower, 
Being  once  displayed,  doth  fall  that  very  hour. 
—  Twelfth  Night,  II,  iv,  15-39. 

Here  the  Duke's  strong  opposition  to  the  page's 
apparent  choice  of  a  woman  five  or  ten  years 
older  is  contrary  to  what  we  should  naturally 
expect,  and  it  may  be  a  result  of  Shakespeare's 
own  experience:  but  note  that  it  is  for  the  wifes 
sake  he  gives  the  advice, 

Then  let  thy  love  be  younger  than  thyself, 

lest,  as  her  rose-like  beauty  fades,  she  lose 

"  What  alle  women  most  desire  — 
The  sovereignety  of  mannes  love," 

as  "  Moral  Gower  "  phrased  it  more  than  five 
hundred  years  ago.^ 

When  the  dramatist  adds  that  a  husband's  love 
is  likely  to  diminish  as  a  wife's  physical  attractions 
decrease,  it  is  possible,  of  course,  that  he  is  think- 
ing for  the  moment  of  his  own  case.  But  it  is 
nearly  certain  that  he  cherished  permanently  a 
loftier  estimate  of  love  and  marriage.  In  his 
hundred  and  sixteenth  sonnet  he  tells  us  so,  and 
that  he  speaks  from  personal  knowledge  — 

Let  me  not  to  the  marriage  of  true  minds 
Admit  impediments.     Love  is  not  love 
Which  alters  when  it  alteration  finds, 
Or  bends  with  the  remover  to  remove. 

[65] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Oh  no!   it  is  an  ever  fixed  mark 

That  looks  on  tempests  and  is  never  shaken; 

It  is  the  star  to  every  wandering  bark, 

Whose  worth  's  unknown,  although  his  height  be  taken. 

Love  's  not  Time's  fool,  though  rosy  lips  and  cheeks 

Within  his  bending  sickle's  compass  come: 

Love  alters  not  with  his  brief  hours  and  weeks, 

But  bears  it  out  even  to  the  edge  of  doom. 

If  this  be  error  and  upon  me  proved, 

I  never  woo'd,  nor  no  man  ever  loved !^ 

The  Duke  told  Viola  that  a  husband's  love  for  a 
wife  so  much  older  could  not  "  hold  the  bent," 
the  tension  of  inclination.  But  Anne's  affection 
for  William  did  "  hold  the  bent,"  if  we  may  credit 
the  touching  tradition,  commonly  believed  to  be 
genuine,  that  "  she  did  earnestly  desire  to  be  buried 
in  his  grave. "^"^     But  did  his  for  her! 

Grant  White,  Thomas  De  Quincey,  and  many 
others  think  it  did  not.  They  allege  that  he  soon 
left  her.  We  may  answer,  his  very  love  for  her 
may  have  hastened  his  departure;  he  must  have 
remunerative  employment  to  support  wife  and 
children.  They  affirm  that  for  twenty-five  years 
there  is  no  evidence  that  he  came  to  see  her. 
We  answer,  there  is  no  evidence  that  he  stayed 
away.  Aubrey  relates  that  "  he  was  wont  to  goe 
to  his  native  country  once  a  yeare."^^  She  may 
have  been  with  him  in  London  a  good  deal  of  the 
time.  They  assert  that  he  never  wrote  her  a 
letter.      We    answer,    he    may    have    written    her   a 

[66] 


His  Early  Manhood 

thousand:     very    few    letters   of   so    long   ago   have 
floated  down  the  stream  of  time  to  us. 

A  more  plausible  argument  to  show  that  he 
cared  little  or  nothing  for  her  is  based  upon  a 
dozen  words  in  his  last  will  and  testament.  In  the 
first  draft/^  though  he  names  many  friends,  to 
each  of  whom  he  leaves  some  token  of  regard; 
for  instance,  a  ring,  a  sword,  a  silver  bowl,  a 
hundred  pounds,  a  house  or  lands  —  his  wearing 
apparel  to  his  sister,  Mrs.  Joan  Hart;  his  chattels, 
leases,  plate,  jewels,  household  stuff  to  his  daughter 
Susannah,  or  her  husband.  Dr.  John  Hall;  a 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  to  his  daughter  Judith, 
Mrs.  Thomas  Quiney,  etc.,  in  all  this  he  does  not 
once  mention  her;  but  finally  he  interlines  the 
bequest,  "  Item,  I  give  unto  my  wife  my  second- 
best  bed  with  the  furniture."  "  Second-best  bed!  " 
Yes,  on  sober  afterthought,  they  say,  he  does  con- 
clude to  give  her  not  his  best  bed  but  his  second- 
best,  nothing  else!  We  may  answer;  the  best 
bed,  as  was  then  often  the  case,  may  have  been  an 
heir-loom  like  that  in  the  Hathaway  cottage, 
sure  to  remain  in  the  family  in  her  possession  as 
long  as  she  lived.  But  Grant  White  objects, 
"  We  may  explain  '  second-best  bed  '  but  how  can 
we  explain  second-best  thoughts;  for  the  'item' 
is  an  afterthought?  "  Perhaps  in  this  way:  He 
is  finishing  his  will;  she  is  perhaps  amply  provided 
for  by  her  right  of  dower;  he  knows  too  that  she 
will  be  tenderly  cared  for  by  their  daughter  Susannah ; 

[67] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

he  is  finishing  his  will;  he  turns  to  her  and  asks  her 
if  there's  anything  in  the  house  which  she  wishes 
especially  to  retain  for  herself:  she  answers  naming 
that  bed,  perhaps  the  bed  on  which  their  only  boy 
died,  and  which  had  been  kept  sacred  to  his 
memory  !^^ 

Critics  have  alleged  that  he  nowhere  praises 
women.  This  is  not  strictly  true.  In  his  earliest 
comedy,  Love's  Labor's  Lost,  he  extols  them  and 
their  influence  highly;  and  never,  against  women  in 
general  nor  against  any  particular  class  of  them, 
does  he  speak  with  half  the  bitterness  with  which 
he  speaks  against  all  men.  Furthermore  and  most 
significant  is  the  fact,  better  than  any  verbal 
praise,  that  though  the  men  outnumber  the  women 
eight  to  one,  he  holds  up  for  admiration  hardly 
half  a  dozen  men  of  fla\vless  character,  while  at 
least  twenty  of  his  women  are  almost  if  not  quite 
perfection  itself.  You  can  name  at  least  ten  of 
them  who  are  mentally  equal  and  morally  superior 
to  any  ten  of  his  prominent  men!  That  is  what 
Shakespeare  thought  of  women,  married  or  single! 
Outside  of  the  Bible  where  will  you  find  so  noble  a 
group?^^ 

To  all  this  it  should  be  added  as  bearing  on  the 
question  of  the  happiness  of  Shakespeare's  wedded 
life,  that  he  appears  repeatedly  to  be  providing  for 
her  a  comfortable  and  even  elegant  home,  the  best 
house  in  Stratford,  with  barns,  gardens,  orchards 
and    extensive    lands.  ^^     And    this    seems    certain: 

[68] 


His  Early  Manhood 

that  he  loved  her  enough  to  come  back  from  Lon- 
don and  spend  his  last  years  with  her.  If,  before 
that,  there  had  been  any  loss  of  affection,  of  which 
there  is  no  evidence,  it  was  probably  his  fault,  not 
hers.  Certainly  he  was  not  a  model  husband,  if  the 
wretched  traditions  are  true,  which  I  do  not  be- 
lieve, or  if  his  sonnets  are  to  be  interpreted  as 
autobiographical,  which  is  very  doubtful. 

This  marriage,  happy  or  unhappy,  premature  if 
not  ill-starred,  occurred  on  or  about  the  first  of 
December,  1582,  possibly  some  months  earlier. 
On  the  twenty-sixth  of  the  following  May  (O.  S.) 
their  first  child,  Susannah,  was  christened.  A  year 
and  a  half  later  twins,  Hamnet  and  Judith,  were 
born  (Feb.  2,  1584-5  O.  S.)  So  before  William 
was  twenty-one  he  was  the  father  of  three  children! 

What  effect  had  this  matrimonial  experience? 

A  youth  of  astonishing  genius,  no  doubt,  but 
very  likely  in  affairs  of  the  heart  unsophisticated  as 
the  sheep  upon  the  meadows  of  his  river  Avon  — 
a  bookworm  it  may  have  been,  suddenly  carried 
away  by  a  lover's  frenzy  —  wrongly  permitted  by 
a  lady  eight  years  his  senior  to  contract  a  marriage 
that  from  poverty  might  prove  a  martyrdom  — 
possibly  we  owe  something  of  his  greatness  to  this 
very  misery,  If  misery  there  was.  It  is  sometimes 
best  for  the  world  that  the  highest  intellect  stalk 
through  it  without  visible  companionship. 

L69] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

"  You  have  a  wife  already,  whom  you  love, 
Your  social  theory," 

says  Aurora  Leigh  to  her  cousin  suitor,  Romney,  in 
Mrs.  Browning's  poem. 

"  My  muse  is  she  my  love  shall  be," 

Said  the  quaint  poet  Thomas  Randolph,  Shake- 
spear's  contemporary  (1605-1635).  "  I  have  es- 
poused my  art;  my  works  shall  be  my  children  " 
declared  Michael  Angelo.  Francis,  afterwards  called 
Lord  Bacon,  to  whom  matrimony  was  always  a 
matter  of  money,  and  who  came  perilously  near 
not  marrying  at  all  and  never  had  any  children, 
solemnly  averred  at  the  age  of  fifty-one,  "  Certainly 
the  greatest  works,  and  of  greatest  merit  for  the 
public,  have  proceeded  from  the  unmarried  or 
childless  men,  which,  both  in  affection  and  means, 
have  married  and  endowed  the  public."  ^^  Pos- 
sibly, when  his  "  passion  had  spent  its  novel 
force,"  the  tender  love  of  the  great  heart  of  Shake- 
speare, the  time,  the  pains,  the  ceaseless  attentions, 
which  might  have  been  lavished  upon  an  idolized 
wife  or  absorbed  in  a  thousand  household  cares, 
went  nearly  all  to  the  drama  instead.  Wedded 
not  to  a  woman,  but  to  immortal  verse,  as  Milton 
wished  his  Lydian  airs  to  be  — 

"  And  ever  against  eating  cares 
Lap  me  in  soft  Lydian  airs 
Married  to  immortal  verse  "  — 

[70] 


His  Early  Manhood 

his  transient  individual  sorrow,  if  sorrow  there 
was,  is  transmuted  into  many  millions'  lasting  joy. 
But  if  fancy  may  dwell  for  a  moment  on  proba- 
bilities, what  a  struggle  must  have  been  his! 
How  fate  must  have  lashed  him!  To  say  nothing 
of  his  harassed  and  hunted  father  in  the  depths  of 
poverty,  his  broken-hearted  mother,  his  younger 
brothers  and  still  surviving  little  sister,  all  of  whom 
had  begun  to  look  hopefully  to  bright,  strong, 
brave  William;  to  say  nothing  of  this  venerable 
wife;  here  were  three  little  mouths  to  feed,  three 
little  backs  to  clothe,  three  pairs  of  little  feet  to 
be  shod;  every  avenue  to  wealth  and  fame  bar- 
ricaded; neither  capital  nor  inclination  to  set  up 
like  his  father  in  the  butcher  business;  glorious 
aspirations  in  his  heart,  but  three  babies  in  his 
arms;  wings  of  imagination  impatient  to  soar  to 
the  skies;   his  soul  singing 

Oh  for  a  Muse  of  fire  that  would  ascend 
The  brightest  heaven  of  invention! 

( —  First  lines  of  Henry  V.) 

but  solid  Anne  Hathaway  clinging  to  him  like 
Mrs.  Micawber  to  the  ill-fated  Wilkins  when  she 
lovingly  threatened,  "  I  never  will  desert  you,  Mr. 
Micawber,"^^  —  and  the  demon  of  poverty  saddled 
upon  him  like  the  "  old  man  of  the  sea  "  astride 
the  neck  and  shoulders  of  Sinbad  the  Sailor,  — 
"  The  Philistines  be  upon  thee,"  Shakespeare! 
Whither    shall     he    turn?     Well  —  he    is    perhaps 

[71] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

better  fitted  for  school-keeping  than  for  any  other 
business.  It  used  to  be  the  easiest  profession  to 
enter.  It  required  no  capital.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  whom  I  often  met  at  the  Butler  Health 
Lift  in  Brooklyn, ^^  once  remarked  to  me,  as  we  lay 
resting  side  by  side,  after  lifting,  that  if  a  learned 
young  man,  just  graduating  from  college,  full  of 
philosophies  and  classics,  had  no  property,  no  in- 
come, no  other  way  of  keeping  the  w^olf  of  starva- 
tion from  the  door,  he  "  would  either  teach  or 
preach!  "  "  I  did  both,"  said  Beecher.  He  told 
me  where. 

The  situation  is  different  now,  thanks  to  the 
training  which  is  gradually  making  pedagogy  one 
of  the  fine  arts.  But  the  time  was,  and  not  so 
long  ago,  when  a  little  scholarship  alone  was  re- 
quired as  an  outfit;  and  no  lawless  lawyer,  no 
impatient  physician,  no  hungry  pastor,  no  unstudied 
student,  unschooled  scholar,  illiterate  man  of  let- 
ters, but  was,  in  his  own  and  others'  estimation, 
entirely  competent  to  train  the  immortal  mind! 
And  so  the  one  secular  business,  whose  right 
exercise  requires  more  skill,  produces  more  far- 
reaching  visible  results,  and  is  more  vital  to  the 
prosperity  of  a  free  state  than  any  other,  was  more 
than  any  other  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  a  horde 
of  adventurers,  vagrants,  rifi"raff,  fractions  of 
humanity,  fools  learned  and  unlearned  not  fit  to 
train  anything  above  a  dog!'^  Yet  from  Pyth- 
agoras   to    Festalozzi;     from    old    Homer    teaching 

|72J 


His  Early  Manhood 

school  three  years  at  Smyrna,  to  Whittier  playing 
pedagogue  for  months  at  Amesbury;  from  Plato 
in  the  Academy  at  Athens,  to  Emerson  five  years 
in  his  brother's  seminary  in  Boston;  from  Aristotle 
in  the  Lyceum  to  Agassiz  in  his  wife's  classes  at 
Cambridge;  from  Nicholas  Udal  and  Sir  John 
Cheke  and  Roger  Ascham  and  Jeremy  Taylor  and 
John  Milton  to  Daniel  Webster  and  Thomas 
Arnold  and  Mark  Hopkins  and  Emma  Willard 
and  Mary  Lyon  and  Phillips  Brooks  and  Woodrow 
Wilson,  and  others  vv^hose  names  are  dear  to  man- 
kind and  familiar  as  household  words,  conspicuous 
among  the  noble  living  or  sleeping  with  the  il- 
lustrious dead;  a  host  of  bright  and  beautiful 
characters,  among  them  some  of  the  best  intellects 
of  the  race,  have  honored  this  profession  and  been 
honored  by  it;  and  to  this  number  I  think  we  may 
add  Shakespeare.  He  certainly  was  eminently 
fit  for  it,  his  need  was  great,  and  entrance  upon  it 
was  easy. 

There  is  good  evidence  that  he  was  at  one  time 
a  schoolmaster.  Aubrey  records  and  gives  the 
name  of  his  informant,  Mr.  Beeston,  that  Shake- 
speare "  understood  Latin  pretty  well,  for  he  had 
been  in  his  younger  years  a  schoolmaster  in  the 
country. "20  This  Mr.  Beeston,  who  lived  till 
1682  and  whom  Dryden  compliments  by  naming 
him  "  the  chronicle  of  the  stage,"  had  been  a 
member,  even  a  fellow,  of  Lord  Strange's  Company 
of  Players,  to  which  Shakespeare  himself  belonged,-^ 

[73] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

He  therefore  would  be  likely  to  know  the  facts. 
Why  should  he  falsify?  What  motive  could  there 
be  for  inventing  such  a  statement?  The  tradition 
is  not  one  that  would  be  likely  to  arise  out  of 
mere  nothing.  Unfavorable  reports  do  arise  out  of 
mere  nothing  by  a  kind  of  "  spontaneous  genera- 
tion "  in  the  "  protoplasm  "  of  total  depravity. 
In  '  the  struggle  for  existence,'  scandalous  statements, 
like  infant  mosquitoes  that  have  squeezed  through 
a  screen,  small  at  first,  grow  large  and  strong;  and 
by  that  psychological  law  which  curiously  seems  to 
reverse  the  biological,  the  "  survival  of  the  " 
morally  "  unfittest,"  they  are  pretty  surely  per- 
petuated. 

The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them, 

The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones.  — 

Julius  CcBsar,  III,  ii,  73,  74    (Sprague's  ed.) 

But  this  is  a  favorable  tradition  with  no  depravity, 
no  envy,  no  malice,  no  distrust,  to  give  it  birth  or 
keep  it  alive.  It  is  stated  as  a  well  known  fact 
to  account  for  his  mastery  of  Latin  —  "He  under- 
stood Latin  pretty  well,  for  he  had  been  in  his 
younger  years  a  schoolmaster  in  the  country." 

As  corroborative  of  the  statement  made  by  Bees- 
ton  and  Aubrey  it  is  well  to  note  that  many 
pages,  especially  in  his  earlier  writings,  teem  with 
precisely  that  kind  of  learning  which  a  school- 
master, more  than  any  other,  was  likely  to  be 
familiar  with.     "  No  man,"  says  Dr.  Sam.  Johnson, 

[74] 


His  Early  Manhood 

"  forgets  his  original  trade  ";  and  Coleridge  remarks 
that  "  a  young  author's  first  work  almost  always 
bears  traces  of  his  recent  pursuits."  Not  to  lay 
stress  upon  Shakespeare's  habit  which  I  have  else- 
where shown,^^  of  using  words  in  their  root  meaning, 
a  habit  into  which  a  Latin  teacher  is  especially 
liable  to  fall,  and  the  kindred  practice  of  coining 
words  from  the  classic  tongues,  we  find  that  the 
contents  of  the  text-books  which  he  would  use 
daily,  the  stories  of  ancient  history  and  mythology, 
topics  familiar  in  the  class  room,  are  evidently 
running  constantly  through  his  head  and  skipping 
off  the  point  of  his  pen.^^ 

Note,  too,  the  prominence  he  gives,  especially 
in  his  earlier  plays,  to  schools  and  school  matters. 
There  are  not  less  than  fifty  mentions  of  them, 
besides  some  thirty  or  forty  concerning  the  pupils, 
the  masters,  and  the  exercises.  I  cite  a  few,  some 
of  which  show  the  importance  he  attaches  to  the 
instruction. 

In  As  You  Like  It  Orlando  complains  of  his 
elder  brother  Oliver  who  is  defrauding  him  of  the 
education  his  father  intended  for  him.  "  My 
brother  Jacques  he  keeps  at  school,  and  report 
speaks  goldenly  of  his  profit;  for  my  part  he  keeps 
me  rustically  at  home."  To  Oliver  he  says,  "  My 
father  charged  you  in  his  will  to  give  me  a  good 
education.  You  have  trained  me  like  a  peasant, 
obscuring  and  hiding  from  me  all  gentlemanlike 
qualities."     Hamlet,    who    wishes    to    go    back    to 

[75] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

school  at  Wittenberg,  will  not  allow  his  friend  and 
fellow  student  to  disparage  himself  by  calling  him- 
self a  truant!  He  recognizes  the  seriousness  of  the 
charge  of  truancy,  the  plague  of  teachers. 

Hamlet.     But  what,  in  faith,  make  you  from  Wittenberg? 

Horatio.     A  truant  disposition,  good  my  lord. 

Hamlet.     I  would  not  hear  your  enemy  say  so, 

Nor  shall  you  do  mine  ear  that  violence 

To  make  it  truster  of  your  own  report 

Against  yourself.     I  know  you  are  no  truant.  — 

Hamlet,  I,  ii,  168-173.       (Sprague's  ed.) 

In  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  he  funnily  carica- 
tures a  lesson  in  Latin  Grammar  as  conducted  by 
the  Welsh  schoolmaster  parson  Sir  Hugh  Evans.^* 
In  Twelfth  Night  a  pedant  keeps  a  school  in  the 
church,  and  has  a  new  wall  map  showing  "  the 
augmentation  of  the  Indies. "^^  In  Loves  Labor's 
Lost  the  schoolmaster  Holophernes  is  complimented 
for  thoroughness  in  the  minutice  of  book-learning. 
He  is  fastidious  about  accents,  apostrophes,  pro- 
nunciation, poetic  cadences;  insists  that  the  letter 
b  should  be  sounded  in  '  debt '  and  '  doubt,'  and 
/  in  'calf'  and  'half';  he  says  he  "smells  false 
Latin";  he  affects,  like  Goldsmith's  master  in  The 
Deserted  Village  "  words  of  learned  length  and 
thundering  sound  ";  shows  off  his  skill  in  allitera- 
tion; and  displays  his  Latin  and  Italian  in  true 
pedagogue-pedant  style,  as  if,  to  use  the  description 
by  Moth,  the  page,  he  "  had  been  at  a  great  feast 
of  languages  and  had  stolen  the  scraps!  "^^ 

[76] 


His  Early  Manhood 

Significant  \n  As    You  Like  It  is  the  picture  of 

the  boy  going  to  the  hated  school  of  three  centuries 

ago, 

Then  the  whining  schoolboy  with  his  satchel 
And  shining  morning  face,  creeping  like  snail 
Unwillingly  to  school!  — 

II,  vii,  145-147.    (Sprague's  ed.) 

Still    more   significant  in    Romeo   and   Jidiet   is    the 
comparison, 

Love  goes  toward  Love  as  schoolboys  from  their  books; 
But  Love  from  Love,  toward  school  with  heavy  looks!  — 

II,   ii,    157-158. 

In  speaking  of  our  poet  as  possibly  having  been 
a  teacher,  we  need  not  imagine  him  wielding  birch 
or  ferule  over  ten,  twenty,  thirty  or  forty  '  urchins,* 
as  Washington  Irving  would  style  them.  A  private 
tutor  in  that  age  was  commonly  termed  a  "  school- 
master," though  he  had  but  two  or  three  pupils  or 
only  one.-^  Thus  Prospero,  one  of  the  most  com- 
plete all-round  characters  in  the  plays,  and  in 
whom,  as  all  critics  agree,  we  discern  something  of 
the  features  of  the  dramatist  himself,  teaches  his 
daughter  Miranda:  she  is  his  only  pupil:  he  calls 
himself  her  "  schoolmaster."  In  The  Taming  of 
The  Shrew  we  have  two,  Hortensio  who  teaches 
music,  and  Lucentio  who  teaches  Latin  and  Greek: 
each  has  but  one  pupil,  yet  each  is  called  a  "school- 
master."    In    Antony    and     Cleopatra     Euphronius 

[77] 


Stiidies  in  Shakespeare 

who  teaches  but  two  children  is  styled  their 
"  schoolmaster,"  In  this  Shakespeare  follows  Plu- 
tarch. 

I  have  often  fancied  William  such  a  school- 
master as  that,  and  have  even  suspected  that  Anne 
Hathaway  was  his  sole  (soul)  pupil!  He  would 
teach  her  as  Lucentio  in  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew 
taught  the  beautiful  Bianca.  You  may  remember 
that  Lucentio,  desiring  to  make  Bianca's  acquain- 
tance and  to  woo  her,  disguises  himself  as  a  teacher, 
exchanging  his  costly  robes  for  the  humbler  gar- 
ments of  his  servant  Tranio.  Dressed  as  a  tutor 
he  gains  admission  into  the  stately  mansion  of 
Bianca's  father,  Baptista,  at  Padua,  and  is  engaged 
by  him  to  instruct  the  girl  in  the  classic  tongues. 
Listen  as  he  gives  her  a  lesson  in  Latin.  He  reads 
the  text  in  a  loud  voice,  but  translates,  or  pre- 
tends to  translate,  in  an  undertone,  suspecting 
some  one  is  eavesdropping! 

Bianca.     Where  left  we  last? 

Lucentio.     Here,  madam: 

*  Hie  ibat  Simois;  hie  est  Sigeia  tellus; 
Hie  steterat  Priami  regia  eelsa  senis.' 

Bianca.     Construe  them. 

Lucentio.  Hie  ibat,  as  I  told  you  before;  Simois, 
I  am  Lucentio;  hie  est,  son  unto  Vincentio  of  Pisa; 
Sigeia  tellus,  disguised  thus  to  get  your  love;  Hie 
steterat,  and  that  Lucentio  that  comes  a-wooing; 
Priami,  is  my  man  Tranio;  regia,  bearing  my  port; 
celsa  senis,  that  we  might  beguile  the  old  '  panta- 
loon.' 

[78] 


His  Early  Manhood 

Then  the  fair  Bianca  tries  her  skill  at  translating 
the  same  passage. 

Bianca.     Now  let  me  see  if  I  can  construe  it. 

Hie  ibat  Simois,  I  know  you  not;  hie  est  Sigeia 
tellus,  I  trust  you  not;  Hie  sleterat  Priami,  take  heed 
he  hear  us  not;  regia,  presume  not;  celsa  senis,  despair 
not! 

With  such  a  teacher  and  such  a  pupil  rapid  progress 
might  naturally  be  expected  in  conjugating,  espe- 
cially the  verb  amareP^ 

We  find  then  in  the  plays  strong  confirmation  of 
Aubrey's  and  Beeston's  statement  that  Shake- 
speare "  was  in  his  younger  years  a  schoolmaster 
in  the  country." 

Although  this  vocation  was  ready  at  hand,  and, 
more  than  most  others,  might  afford  leisure  for 
study  and  experiment,  and  that  was  perhaps  what 
he  most  desired;  —  the  opportunity  of  investigating 
and  accumulating;  of  classifying,  digesting,  practis- 
ing mental  gymnastics;  and  of  mastering  the  art 
and  mystery  of  poetic  expression ;  —  it  was  not 
likely  to  content  him  long.  It  might  do  for  a 
temporary  support,  but  it  could  hardly  be  anything 
better  than  that,  or  a  stepping-stone.  He  was  not 
of  the  stuff  of  which  martyrs  and  missionaries  and 
permanent  school  teachers  are  made!  What  more 
natural  than  that  he  should  study  law?     Doubtless 

[79] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

he  had  often  seen  his  father  presiding  as  magis- 
trate in  the  court-leet  of  Stratford;  at  table  had 
heard  law  cases  stated  and  knotty  legal  questions 
discussed;  had  known  of  numerous  impending 
litigations  in  which  his  father  was  to  be  plaintiff 
or  defendant,  particularly  the  distressing  complica- 
tions in  which  he  was  entangled  when  William  was 
fourteen  to  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  on  the  un- 
raveling of  which  the  happiness  of  the  Shakespeare 
family  depended. 

Even  if  the  laws  of  England  and  the  proceedings 
of  courts  of  justice  had  not  been  thus  forced  upon 
his  attention  during  his  childhood  and  youth,  they 
would  yet  have  constituted  an  important  branch 
of  that  universal  knowledge  the  attainment  of 
which  may  have  been  his  earliest  ideal.^^  He  must 
have  known  his  powers,  and  what  could  be  more 
natural  than  that  he  should  at  times  dream  of  a 
professional  career  for  himself  as  a  lawyer?  We 
need  attach  no  importance  to  the  tradition  men- 
tioned by  Steevens,  Malone,  and  Rushton,  and  yet 
there  was  such  a  tradition,  that  he  was  once  a 
clerk  in  an  attorney's  office.  Still  less  can  we  con- 
cur unreservedly  in  Lord  Chancellor  Campbell's 
sweeping  assertion  (1859)  that,  "  While  novelists 
and  dramatists  are  continually  making  mistakes 
as  to  the  law  of  marriage,  of  wills,  and  of  inheri- 
tance, to  Shakespeare's  law,  lavishly  as  he  pro- 
pounds it,  there  can  be  neither  demurrer,  nor  bill 
of  exceptions,   nor  writ  of  error!  "     Yet   there   are 

[80] 


His  Early  Manhood 

passages  which  justify  the  affirmation  of  the  late 
Senator  Cushman  K,  Davis  of  Minnesota  in  his 
treatise  on  Shakespeare's  legal  lore  (1899)  that 
"The  legalism  is  structural;  it  could  not  be  up- 
rooted without  taking  the  thought,  blood,  rhetoric, 
and  continuity  of  the  whole  text  along  with  it."^*' 
For  instance,  let  us  quote  from  Hamlet  a  part  of 
the  graveyard  scene.  Even  a  well-read  lawyer 
needs  a  dictionary  to  understand  it  fully.  Two 
grave-diggers  are  unearthing  bones  in  the  ancient 
cemetery.      Says  Hamlet  —  musing  — 

There's  another:  why  may  not  that  be  the  skull 
of  a  lawyer?  Where  be  his  quiddits  now,  his  quillets, 
his  cases,  his  tenures,  and  his  tricks?  Why  does  he 
suffer  this  rude  knave  now  to  knock  him  about  the 
sconce  with  a  dirty  shovel,  and  will  not  tell  him  of  his 
action  of  battery?  —  Hum!  This  fellow  might  be  in 
's  time  a  great  buyer  of  land,  with  his  statutes,  his  re- 
cognizances, his  fines,  his  double  vouchers,  his  re- 
coveries: is  this  the  fine  of  his  fines  and  the  recovery 
of  his  recoveries,  to  have  his  fine  pate  full  of  fine  dirt? 
Will  his  vouchers  vouch  him  no  more  of  his  purchases, 
and  double  ones  too,  than  the  length  and  breadth  of 
a  pair  of  indentures?  The  very  conveyances  of  his 
lands  will  hardly  lie  in  this  box;  and  must  the  in- 
heritor have  no  more?     ha? 

Horatio.     Not  a  jot  more,  my  lord. 

Hamlet.     Is  not  parchment  made  of  sheep-skins? 

Horatio.     Ay,  my  lord,  and  of  calf-skins,  too. 

Hamlet.  They  are  sheep  and  calves  which  seek  out 
assurance  in  that! —  Hamlet,  V,  i,  94-110.  (Sprague's 
ed.) 

[81] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Not  claiming,  therefore,  that  he  was  a  practitioner, 
it  is  evident  that  he  mastered  much  of  the  techni- 
cahties  of  law. 

To  all  this  it  has  been  objected  by  Dr.  Appleton 
Morgan,  the  gifted  president  of  the  late  New  York 
Shakespeare  Society,  and  by  Mr.  William  C. 
Devecmon,  a  learned  member  of  the  Maryland 
bar,  and  by  many  others,  that  the  trial  scene  in 
The  Merchant  of  Venice,  case  of  "  Shylock  vs. 
Antonio,"  "  shows  a  consummate  ignorance  of  all 
law  and  of  all  legal  procedure,"  and  that  "  every 
ruling  of  Portia  is  the  exact  reverse  of  the  English 
law  of  Shylock's  case."  To  these  strictures  answer 
has  been  made  in  my  Study  of  Shakespeare' s 
Greatest  Character,  a  Woman,  and  in  my  essay  on 
Alleged  Blunders  in  Shakespeare' s  Legal  Terminology, 
published  some  years  ago  (April,  1902)  in  The 
Yale  Law  Journal.  In  these  I  show:  (1)  It  would 
have  been  improper  to  conform  to  modern  English 
law  or  English  court  practice,  for  the  scene  is  laid 
in  ancient  Venice  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  years 
ago;  (2)  In  some  of  the  deviations  from  English 
rule  and  usage,  the  dramatist  is  adhering  closely 
to  the  old  story,  which,  for  aught  we  know,  may 
be  true  history;  (3)  In  that  remote  age  the  highest 
court  in  Venice  very  likely  had  a  fourfold  jurisdic- 
tion; civil,  equity,  criminal,  and  ecclesiastical  or 
probate,  and  these  four  are  successively  and  very 
properly  availed  of;  (4)  In  the  court  procedure 
in  the  play  there  are  remarkable  coincidences  with 

[82] 


His  Early  Manhood 

usages  which  never  existed  in  England  but  may  have 
been  common  in  countries  under  Spanish  domina- 
tion, and  which  prevailed  in  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  in  the  Republic  of  Nicaragua 
and  other  Spanish  American  states.  In  The 
Overland  Monthly  of  July,  1886,  Mr.  John  T.  Doyle 
of  California,  who  had  been  in  business  for  some 
years  in  one  of  those  central  American  states, 
points  out  those  usages  which  he  had  observed  in 
the  courts  there,  and  which  had  evidently  been 
inherited  from  Spain  or  Italy.^^ 

But  the  monotony  of  pedagogue  life  or  incipient 
butchership  by  day  and  hard  study  by  night, 
varied  by  cradling  in  his  arms  his  twin  babes 
Hamnet  and  Judith  and  two-years-old  Susannah 
when  their  triple  cries  baffled  mother  Shakespeare's 
soothing  paregoric,  seems  to  have  come  to  a  sudden 
and  inglorious  end.  Nicholas  Rowe  heard  from 
the  famous  actor  Thomas  Betterton  a  tradition 
believed  to  be  authentic,  that  young  Shakespeare 
fell  into  bad  company,  and  that  some  of  his  com- 
panions engaged  him  in  the  robbery  of  Sir  Thomas 
Lucy's  park  of  deer  at  Charlecote,  three  or  four 
miles  from  Stratford.  In  those  days,  to  kill  and 
carry  off  a  wild  deer  in  defiance  of  the  game  laws 
would  have  been  deemed  by  fast  young  men  about 
as  heinous  a  crime  as  it  would  be  thought  now  to 
catch  fish  in  our  great  lakes  or  Long  Island  Sound 
or   the    English    Channel,    if   some   multi-millionaire 

[83] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

owned  the  whole  of  those  waters  and  forbade  all 
trespassing.^- 

There  were  special  reasons  why  these  madcaps 
should  single  out  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  for  their  roguish 
pranks.  He  was  reputed  proud  of  his  wealth  and 
his  aristocratic  connections;  a  solemn  puritanic 
person  and  therefore  an  object  of  dislike  to  young 
men  of  velocity  and  rapidity;  as  high  sheriff  of 
Warwickshire  taking  notice  of  John  Shakespeare's 
absence  from  church;  fussy  and  testy,  his  family 
being  repeatedly  involved  in  quarrels  with  the 
neighboring  Stratford  folks;  a  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  to  crown  all  he  was  pushing  forward  a 
bill  which  he  had  introduced  as  chairman  of  a 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  enforce 
the  hated  game  laws,  laying  new  restrictions  on 
poor  men's  hunting  in  England,  and  aiming  to  save 
up  the  wild  animals  for  the  amusement  of  the 
gentry! 

Our  young  scapegraces  thought  such  a  man,  his 
deer,  and  his  keeper's  daughter  fair  game.  They 
'  engaged  '  William  —  "  engaged  "  is  the  word, 
which  shows  that  William  did  not  originate  the 
plot — "engaged"  him  in  the  affair,  broke  into 
the  enclosure,  killed  a  deer,  and  were  carrying 
it  off,  when  they  were  attacked  by  some  of  Sir 
Thomas's  men.  These  they  beat.  Imagine  the 
gamekeeper's  daughter  coming  up  with  an  in- 
verted, high-lifted  broom  to  her  father's  defence. 
She   will    make    a   clean    sweep   of    the    trespassers! 

[84] 


His  Early  Manhood 

With  Christian  meekness  worthy  of  a  better  cause 
they  receive  her  with  open  arms  and  give  back  a 
kiss  for  a  blow!  The  golden  rule,  "To  do  to  others 
as  I  would,"  etc.,  has  its  exceptions!  However 
ugly  the  gamekeeper,  however  beautiful  the  girl, 
however  fascinating  the  fun,  we  cannot  justify  the 
boys:  they  had  carried  the  deer  and  the  joke  too 
far.  Sir  Thomas  did  right  in  causing  them  to  be 
arrested. 

Soon  after  this,  a  singular  lampoon  is  said  to 
have  been  found  nailed  up  on  Sir  Thomas's  park 
gate.  It  is  coarse,  bitter,  nonsensical;  but  not 
without  a  certain  smartness.  It  was  attributed  to 
young  Shakespeare,  and  Grant  White  and  others 
are  inclined  to  think  a  part  of  it  is  genuine,  and 
that  nobody  in  Stratford  but  William  was  capable 
of  writing  a  satire  so  keen.^^ 

To  complete  the  story  of  this  deer  stealing,  the 
first  scene  in  Merry  Wives  Of  Windsor  strongly 
corroborates  the  tradition.  Shakespeare  seems  to 
be  paying  off  old  scores.  The  thick-headed  Justice 
Shallow  is  almost  universally  believed  to  be  Sir 
Thomas  Lucy  himself.  He  is  in  a  rage  at  Jack 
Falstaff  and  his  naughty  companions  for  breaking 
into  his  park,  killing  the  deer,  beating  the  men, 
and  kissing  the  girl!  Then  there  is  the  same  coarse 
punning  on  the  name  Lucy.^^ 

Whatever  part  young  Shakespeare  acted  in  all 
this,  clearly  he  was  no  longer  the  person  to  teach 
children    and    youth    by    precept   and    example,    or 

[85] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

make  them  repeat  according  to  the  good  old  cate- 
chism of  the  Church  of  England,  "  My  duty  toward 
my  neighbor  is  ...  to  order  myself  lowly  and 
reverently  to  all  my  betters;  to  hurt  nobody  by 
word  or  deed  ...  to  keep  my  hands  from  picking 
and  stealing,  and  my  tongue  from  evil  speaking!  " 
Farewell  to  school-keeping  now,  if  not  before. 

Ofif  to  London  goes  our  boy  husband,  fleeing 
the  wrath  of  the  incensed  knight,  bidding  a  hasty 
good-bye  to  wife  and  babes,  to  sad-eyed  mother 
and  bailiff-hunted  father.  It  is  perhaps  the  turning- 
point  in  his  career.  He  is  a  sadder  and  a  wiser 
man.  His  "  wild  oats  "  are  nearly  all  sown.  There 
is  little  left  in  Warwickshire  for  him  to  learn. 

He  is  now  in  London,  twenty  or  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  penniless  but  healthy  and  hopeful.  He  has 
eyes  of  a  light  hazel  color,  complexion  fair,  hair 
and  beard  auburn.  Thus  much  was  learned  of  his 
personal  appearance  from  his  bust  in  Holy  Trinity 
Church,  Stratford,  placed  there  about  eight  years 
after  his  death.^^  Aubrey  tells  us  he  "  was  hand- 
some, well  shaped."  So  he  must  have  been  if,  as 
John  Davis  of  Hereford  wrote  six  years  before  his 
death,  he  played  "  kingly  parts."  Tradition,  al- 
most universally  believed  trustworthy,  declared 
that  he  acted  the  part  of  the  Ghost  in  his  own 
tragedy  of  Hamlet;  that  it  was  "  the  top  of  his 
acting  "  and  that  "  he  did  act  exceeding  well."^^ 

In    my   Study   of    Shakespeare's    early   environ- 

[86] 


His  Early  Manhood 

ment  I  state  that  he  has  been  a  myth  to  some, 
a  miracle  to  many,  a  mystery  to  all:  but  have  we 
not  uncovered  some  of  his  foundations?  or  suggested 
a  possible  key  to  his  success? 

Does  not  the  soul  sometimes,  even  in  infancy, 
receive  an  impulse  that  never  swerves  and  never 
ceases?  May  not  this  rare  genius,  of  "  right  happy 
and  copious  industry,"  such  as  his  contemporary, 
the  dramatist  John  Webster,  attributed  to  him  four 
years  before  his  death  —  industry,  to  which  his 
intimate  friend  Ben  Jonson  bore  strong  testimony 
in  the  laudatory  lines  prefixed  to  the  First  Folio  — 
may  not  this  rare  genius,  as  suggested,  have  early 
formed  and  steadily  cherished  during  more  than 
forty  years  a  threefold  purpose  of  knowledge,  of 
culture,  and  of  expression?  Pardon  me  if  I  repeat 
the  suggestion  of  three  processes  going  on  simul- 
taneously;—  (1)  To  acquire  all  possible  informa- 
tion; (2)  To  train  to  the  utmost  all  intellectual 
powers;  (3)  To  clothe  all  ideas  and  sentiments  in 
most  felicitous  poetic  language.  To  know,  to 
cultivate,  to  express;  to  accumulate,  discipline, 
formulate;  to  gather  and  classify;  utilize,  digest 
and  drill ;  idealize,  visualize  and  voice  —  that  is  the 
ideal  and  the  life-work.^'' 

Moving  toward  such  a  goal,  nothing  is  common- 
place. Every  product  of  nature  or  art,  every  mood 
or  movement  of  body  or  mind,  every  phase  of 
matter  or  force  or  spirit,  every  object  or  subject, 
yields   an   inner   meaning.     By   deep   introspection 

[87] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

every  innate  principle  or  latent  tendency  shall  be 
revealed;  by  studious  observation  every  external 
fact,  relation,  semblance,  analogy,  every  lesson 
thereof,  shall  be  stored  in  memory.  By  wide 
generalization  and  persistent  drill,  all  attainable 
strength  and  nimbleness,  breadth  and  keenness, 
solidity  and  brilliancy,  refinement  and  nobleness 
shall  be  gained.  By  phosphorescent  humor  or 
scintillating  wit  or  burning  eloquence,  by  lucid 
assertion  or  fiery  interrogation,  by  gleaming  simile 
or  glowing  metaphor  or  radiant  unlimited  personi- 
fication, not  only  the  most  vital  principles,  and  the 
most  intense  passion,  but  the  subtlest  thought,  the 
most  recondite  truth,  the  most  evanescent  image, 
the  most  elusive  sentiment  shall  be  bodied  forth 
in  incandescent  speech  to  shine  for  many  ages.^^ 

The  world  of  books  is  ever  opening  before  him. 
Face  to  face  with  the  great  souls  of  the  past,  he 
continues  his  study  and  acquisition,  disciplinary 
drill,  enriching  analysis  and  vitalizing  synthesis. 

Family  prosperity  fosters  ambition.  Family  re- 
verses come,  and  the  love  he  bears  to  father, 
mother,  sister,  brothers  is  a  new  stimulus. 

He  marries:  children  are  born  to  him:  it  sobers 
him.  He  teaches:  it  clarifies  his  vision.  He 
studies  law:  it  sharpens  him.  He  poaches:  it 
ends  all  boyishness  and  sends  him  to  London. 
Elsewhere  I  have  shown  that  he  probably  became 
soon  a  soldier  in  the  Low  Countries  under  Sir 
Philip  Sidney  and  the  Earl  of  Leicester. 

[88] 


His  Early  Manhood 

He  is  conscious  of  strength.  He  writes  of  his 
writings: 

Not  marble,  nor  the  gilded  monuments 

Of  princes  shall  outlive  this  powerful  rhyme. 

He  is  now  in  the  heart  and  brain  of  England. 
All  around  him  great  truths  have  been  thought  out, 
great  deeds  wrought,  great  battles  fought,  heroic 
lives  lived,  glorious  deaths  died.  To  him  we  may 
well  believe  the  atmosphere  tingles  with  electric 
memories,  flashes  with  brilliant  examples,  dazzles 
with  auroral  prophecies. 

For  it  is  an  age  such  as  the  world  had  never 
seen;  an  age  of  wonder,  of  daring,  of  startling 
discovery,  of  high  achievement  in  many  a  field,  of 
earthquake  upheavals  in  religion,  volcanic  struggles 
for  liberty  abroad  and  subterraneous  mutterings 
against  tyranny  at  home;  the  unparalleled  age  of 
Elizabeth! 

So  all  things  minister  to  this  sensitive  soul,  in- 
tensify this  threefold  process  of  acquiring,  perfect- 
ing, evolving;  kindle  and  keep  alive  the  joy  of 
creating  —  creating  in  thought  and  re-creating  in 
speech,  speech  plastic  as  wax  but  imperishable  as 
diamond. 

To  crown  all,  the  hour  of  England's  drama  has 
struck.  The  opportunity  has  come  not  only  to 
display  a  thousand  thoughts  in  glittering  phrases, 
but  also  to  incarnate  his  conceptions  in  a  hundred 
human     forms    forever    luminous.     Call    it    genius, 

[89] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

inspiration,  or  what  you  will,  to  this  end  he  was 
born.  Drawn  toward  it  from  his  early  years  by  a 
triple  magnetism,  this  keen  and  comprehensive 
observer,  this  tireless  intellectual  athlete,  this 
wonder-speaking  and  wonder-building  artist  has 
found  his  mission  at  last. 

A  myth  no  longer,  a  miracle  no  longer,  he  is  yet 
in  some  degree  a  mystery  still.  In  the  vast  ac- 
cumulations of  his  knowledge,  which  Lowell  de- 
clares was  "beyond  precedent  or  later  parallel"; 
in  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  grasp;  in  the 
subtleness  of  his  insight;  in  the  deep  minings  of 
his  studies;  in  the  towerings  of  his  imagination; 
in  his  exquisite  word-painting,  and  above  all,  in 
his  amazing  character-creation;  we  indeed  see  the 
effect,  we  guess  at  the  cause. 

But  the  cause  of  that  cause,  the  beginning  of  the 
impulse  that  started  him  on  his  shining  career, 
the  origin  of  the  force  that  first  upheaved  and 
afterwards  steadily  lifted  toward  the  skies  this 
loftiest  Himalaya  peak  of  the  intellectual  world  — 
that  cause,  that  beginning,  that  origin,  we  may 
never  know;   and  we  still  say  with  Matthew  Arnold, 

"  Others  abide  our  question;   thou  art  free! 
We  ask  and  ask;   thou  smilest  and  art  still, 
Out-topping  knowledge:   for  the  loftiest  hill, 
Who  to  the  stars  uncrowns  his  majesty, 
Planting  his  steadfast  footsteps  in  the  sea. 
Making  the  heaven  of  heavens  his  dwelling-place. 
Spares  but  the  cloudy  border  of  his  base 

[90] 


His  Early  Manhood 

To  the  foiled  searching  of  mortality! 

And  thou,  who  didst  the  stars  and  sunbeams  know, 

Self-schooled,  self-scanned,  self-centred,  self-secure, 

Didst  walk  on  earth  unguessed  at!  —  Better  so! 

All  pains  the  immortal  spirit  can  endure, 

All  weakness  that  impairs,  all  griefs  that  bow, 

P'ind  their  sole  speech  in  that  victorious  brow!  " 


[91] 


NOTES   IN  STUDY  II 


His  Early  Manhood 


1  It  has  often  been  said  that  Stratford  on  Avon  was  "  a  bookless  town." 
But  surely  the  youth  from  his  seventh  to  his  seventeenth  year  could  have 
obtained  books  from  the  learned  masters  of  the  grammar  school,  Walter 
Roche  (1570-1577).  Thomas  Hunt  (1577-1580),  and  Thomas  Jenkins 
(1580+).     So  too  from  the  rectors  of  tlie  churches. 

From  Holinshed  (pub.  in  1577)  he  drew  materials  for  Lear,  Macbeth , 
Cymbeline  and  the  ten  English  historical  plays;  from  Plutarch's  Lives 
(pub.  in  1579),  for  Julius  Ccesar,  Coriolanus,  and  Antony  and  Cleopatra. 

*  More  nearly,  say  eighteen  years  and  seven  months,  reckoning  from 
April  26,  Old  Style.  Her  age  is  shown  by  the  inscription  on  her  gravestone 
in  the  Stratford  church,  "  Here  lyeth  interred  the  body  of  Anne,  wife  of 
William  Shakespeare.  She  departed  this  life  the  6  day  of  August,  1623, 
being  of  tlie  age  of  67  yeares."     William  died  April  23d,  1616,  O.  S. 

'  In  California  some  years  ago  it  was  held  that  a  marriage  might  be 
legal  and  valid  without  the  intervention  of  minister  or  magistrate. 

The  Shakespeare  marriage  bond  in  the  Bishop's  Registry  at  Worcester, 
Eng.,  was  brought  to  light  in  1830  by  Sir  Thomas  Phillipps  of  Middle  Hill, 
Worcestershire.  It  is  dated  November  28,  1582.  The  bondsmen  are  held 
in  quadraginta  libris  (in  forty  pounds)  to  "  defend  and  save  harmless  the 
right  reverend  Father  in  God,  Lord  John  Bishop  of  Worcester,  and  his 
offycers,  for  licensing  the  said  William  and  Anne  to  be  married  together 
with  once  asking  of  the  bannes  of  matrimony  between  them." 

*  At  Shottery.  The  cottage  is  said  to  have  been  first  mentioned  as  hers 
by  Samuel  Ireland  in  his  Picturesque  Views  (1795)  and  remained  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Hathaways  till  1838. 

'  One  of  the  most  illuminating  discussions  of  the  marriage  and  of  the 
matrimonial  experiences  of  Shakespeare  is  that  by  Halliwell-Phillipps 
(1820-1889)  in  his  Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Shakespeare.  See  especially  Vol.  I, 
62-67;  7th  ed.   (1887). 

'Surely  some  time  limit  ought  to  be  fixed.  Cassius  M.  Clay  at  83, 
thinking  probably  of  King  David  and  Abishag  tlie  Shunammite,  married  a 
girl  of  15  without  the  consent  of  his  parentsi  The  story  goes  that  he 
asked  his  "colored  servant,  "What  do  you  think  of  my  marriage?"  —  "I 
don't  like  it,  massa."  —  "  Why  not?  "  —  "  Too  much  difference  in  your 
ages."  —  "  Sambo,  I'm  still  in  my  prime."  —  "  Yes.  massa;  but  when  she 
comes  to  her  prime  about  70  years  from  now,  where'U  you  be?  " 


[93] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Perhaps  the  impecuniosity  of  this  couple  has  been  too  much  emphasized. 
If,  as  commonly  supposed,  Richard  Hathaway's  daughter  Agnes  was  the 
same  as  Anne,  then  by  his  will  (dated  Sept.  1,  1581  and  probated  July  9, 
1582)  she  was  to  be  paid  "  at  the  day  of  her  marriage  61.,  13s.,  4d.".  See 
Sidney  Lee's  Life  of  Shakespeare,  page  19. 

'  I  recall  in  a  song  at  Yale  65  years  ago  the  lines, 

"  And  his  chum  who  has  fallen  in  love 
And  so  of  course  bloweth  a  flute!  " 

'Chaucer's  friend  John  Gower  (1330-1408),  who  wrote  long  poems  in 
three  languages.     In  his  Confessio  Amantis  he  makes  Venus  say 

"  And  greet  well  Chaucer  when  you  meet. 
As  my  disciple  and  my  poete." 

•  In  the  last  line  of  this  sonnet  the  common  reading  is 

I  never  writ,  nor  no  man  ever  loved. 

But  as   the  word  '  writ '  makes  no   pertinent  sense,  I  venture   to  change  it 
to  woo'd  or  wist. 

1°  One  John  Dowdall,  in  a  manuscript  account  of  his  travels  in  Warwick- 
shire in  1693  (pub.  in  London  in  1838)  states  it  thus:  "  His  wife  and 
daughters  did  earnestly  desire  to  be  layd  in  the  same  grave  with  him." 
Their  wish  was  not  complied  with.  Susannah  was  buried  in  her  husband's 
grave.  Their  gravestones  are  beside  his  in  front  of  the  altar  rails  on  the 
second  step  in  Holy  Trinity  Church. 

11  John  Aubrey  (1626-1697)  compiled  between  1669  and  1696  his  Lives 
of  Eminent  Men.     Halliwell-Phillipps  thinks  it  was  completed  in  1680. 

'2  It  was  to  have  been  signed  Thursday,  January  25th,  but  was  not 
executed  till  the  25th  of  the  following  March.  It  was  presented  for 
probate  by  Dr.  John  Hall  at  the  registry  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
in  London  June  22d,    1616. 

1'  It  is  occasionally  a  manifestation  of  tender  affection  to  leave  a  death 
chamber  and  its  contents  in  precisely  the  same  condition  as  when  the 
loved  one  passed  away.  On  the  tablet  of  my  memory  were  indehbly 
carved,  scores  of  years  ago,  the  lines  on  a  child's  tombstone, 

"  Here  thy  toys  neglected  lying, 
Here  thy  cradle  and  thy  bed; 
Here  thy  little  books:   O  Roscoel 
Can  it  be  that  tliou  art  dead?  " 


[94] 


His  Early  Manhood 


The  "  second-best  bed  "  may  have  been  sacred  to  the  memory  of  their 
lost  boy  Hamnet.  Charles  Sprague's  touching  verses  in  his  exquisite  lyric , 
1  See  Thee  Still,  are  re-called  — 

"  This  was  thy  chamber:   here  each  day 
I  sat  and  watched  thy  sad  decay; 
Here  on  this  bed  thou  last  didst  lie. 
Here  on  this  pillow  thou  didst  die." 


"  In  round  numbers  1,000  men  and  boys,  125  women  speak  in  dialogue 
in  the  plays.  Among  the  "  good  women  "  of  unblemished  moral  character 
we  may  name  Queen  Katharine  of  King  Henry  VIII;  Imogen  in  Cymbe- 
line;  Hermione,  Paulina,  and  Perdita,  in  The  Winter's  Tale;  Miranda  in 
I'he  Tempest;  Volumnia,  Virgilia,  and  "  dear  Valeria  "  in  Coriolanus; 
Cordelia  in  King  Lear;  Isabella  in  Measure  for  Measure;  Helena  in  All's 
Well  That  Ends  Well;  Portia  and  Calpurnia  in  Julius  Ccesar;  Ophelia 
in  Hamlet;  Viola  and  Olivia  in  Twelfth  Night;  Rosalind  and  Celia  in 
As  You  Like  It;  Beatrice  and  Hero  in  Much  Ado  About  Nothing;  Julia 
and  Silvia  in  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona;  Juliet  in  Romeo  and  Juliet; 
and,  perhaps  above  all,  Portia  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice.  Here,  out  of 
125  speaking  women,  are  twenty-five  superior  in  real  goodness  and  inno- 
cence to  any  twenty-five  of  the  thousand  men! 

15  May  4,  1597,  he  purchased  The  Great  House,  built  by  Sir  Hugh 
Clopton  more  than  a  century  before,  with  two  barns  and  two  gardens. 
The  place  was  a  good  deal  "  run  down,"  but  he  paid  for  it  sixty  pounds. 
As  to  the  probable  worth  of  money  in  Shakespeare's  age,  Halliwell-Phillipps 
remarks  {Outlines,  Vol.  I,  p.  21),  "  In  balancing  the  Shakespearian  and 
present  currencies,  the  former  may  be  roughly  estimated  from  a  twelfth 
to  a  twentieth  of  the  latter  in  money,  and  from  a  twentieth  to  a  thirtieth, 
in  landed  or  house  property."  In  May,  1602,  he  bought  from  William  and 
John  Combe  one  hundred  and  seven  acres  of  arable  land  for  320  pounds. 
To  this  he  added  twenty  acres  early  in  1610. 

16  See  Bacon's  £553^5,  VIII  and  X.  In  the  eighth  we  read,  "A  man 
may  have  a  quarrel  (i.e.  cause,  reason,  or  plea)  to  marry  when  he  will; 
but  yet  he  was  reputed  one  of  the  wise  men  that  made  answer  to  the 
question  when  a  man  should  marry  — '  A  young  man  not  yet,  an  older 
man  not  at  all.'  " 

"  See  Dickens'  David  Copperfield. 

"  Graduating  from  Amherst  in  1834,  he  taught  school  for  a  little  while 
in  Northbridge  (Whitinsville),  Mass.  —  See  my  Recollections  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher. 


[95] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


19 "  I  have  taught  him  even  as  one  would  say,  '  precisely  thus  would  1 
teach  a  dog';"  spoken  of  his  ill-mannered  cur  Crab  by  the  clownish 
Launce  in  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  IV,  iv,  4,  5. 

A  story  was  once  current  that  John  C.  Calhoun  said  to  Daniel  Webster 
on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  at  Washington  as  a  drove  of  donkeys  passed 
by,  "  Webster,  there  goes  a  lot  of  your  Massachusetts  constituents,"  and 
he  replied,  "  Yes,  they're  going  to  South  Carolina  to  teach  school!  "  The 
same  anecdote  was  related  of  Tristan  Burges  of  Rhode  Island  and  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke. 

^  See  Beeston's  statement  as  quoted  by  Aubrey  in  Halliwell-Phillipps' 
Outlines,  II,  71.  Sidney  Lee  says  that  Beeston  "was  doubtless  in  the 
main  a  trustworthy  witness."  —  Life  of  Shakespeare,  p.  361. 

2'  There  is  little  or  no  doubt  that  our  dramatist  belonged  first  to  the 
Company  of  Robert  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester.  This  was  licensed  when 
William  was  ten  years  old.  When  he  was  twelve,  this  company  acted  at 
the  playhouse  built  in  London  that  year  (1576)  by  James  Burbage,  father 
of  the  celebrated  actor,  Richard  Burbage  (?  1567-1619),  and  known  simply 
as  The  Theatre.  Upon  Leicester's  death  in  1588  his  company  was  merged 
with  that  of  Lord  Strange  (Ferdinando  Stanley,  who  became  Earl  of 
Derby  in  1592).  He  died  in  1594,  and  Henry  Carey,  the  first  Lord  Huns- 
don,  holding  the  high  office  of  Lord  Chamberlain,  succeeded  him  as  patron. 
So  the  company  then  took  the  name.  The  Lord  Chamberlain's  Company. 
He  died  in  1596,  and  then  his  son  George  Carey,  the  second  Lord  Hunsdon, 
became  the  company's  patron.  In  1597  he  became  Lord  Chamberlain. 
The  company  continued  to  bear  the  name  of  The  Lord  Chamberlain's 
Company  till  the  accession  of  James  in  1603.  Among  the  first  acts  of  the 
king  was  the  licensing  (May  19,  1603)  of  the  company  as  the  special 
"  Servants  "  of  the  king.  Of  course  it  included  what  remained  of  Lord 
Strange's  Company.  In  the  list  of  "  The  King's  Servants  "  Shakespeare's 
name  stands  second.  Did  he  attempt  to  repay  the  royal  favor  a  few 
years  later  by  whitewashing  Banquo,  one  of  James's  reputed  ancestors? 

22  See  the  preceding  Study  (Shakespeare's  Cradle  and  School)  as  to  his 
use  of  words  in  their  root  meaning;  also  as  to  his  coining  or  anglicising 
such. 

23  Many  a  play,  especially  his  earlier,  bristles  with  such  names  as  Alex- 
ander, Ajax,  Hercules,  Cupid,  Argus,  Ovidius  Naso,  Apollo,  Phoebe, 
Phoebus,  Bellona,  Mercurj',  Pompey,  Caesar,  Hector,  Mars,  Ilion,  Hannibal, 
Ate,  Aurora,  Titan,  Cleopatra,  Iris,  Briareus,  Ceres,  Pluto,  Juno,  Niobe, 
Pythagoras,  etc.  Outside  the  circle  of  college  professors,  it  is  rather 
unusual  to  find  any  one  so  familiar  with  classic  mythology  and  ancient 
history.  —  See  what  is  perhaps  his  earliest  comedy.  Love's  Labor's  Lost, 
especially  IV,  ii,  and  V,  i. 


[96] 


His  Early  Manhood 


'*  This  scene  (Act  IV,  sc.  i)  is  not  found  in  the  quarto  of  1602.  It  first 
appears  in  the  Folio  of  1623.  It  has  been  queerly  fancied  that  the  boy, 
William  Page  (the  g  being  "  hard  "  like  the  g  in  go  and  Sprague),  was  none 
other  than  the  William  who  with  his  two  brothers,  Ralph  and  Richard, 
founded  Charlestown,  Mass.,  in  1628.  (See  the  pamphlet.  The  Founding 
of  Charlestown  by  the  Three  Spragues,  by  Henry  H.  Sprague.)  The  fancy 
is  that  their  father,  Edward  Sprague,  a  well-to-do  fuller  of  Upway,  Dorset- 
shire, entertained  Shakespeare  at  his  house,  and  there  the  dramatist  saw 
the  boy,  who  was  about  eight  years  of  age  at  the  time  of  Shakespeare's 
death.  After  hearing  him  recite,  his  schoolmaster,  the  Welsh  parson.  Sir 
Hugh  Evans,  compliments  him  to  his  mother,  "  He  is  a  good  sprag  mem- 
ory," punning  on  the  word  sprag  (for  '  Spraguel  ')  meaning  smart,  quick, 
or  ready.     Shall  we  say,  "  Credat  Judmus  Apella  "? 

Apropos  of  book  study,  note  the  importance  which  Prospero,  in  whom  all 
critics  discern  some  of  the  lineaments  of  Shakespeare  himself,  attaches  to 
the  schoolmaster's  tools.  He  tells  Miranda  that  his  usurping  brother 
Antonio  consigned  him  to  his  library  as  "dukedom  large  enough";  that 
the  good  Gonzalo,  — 

Knowing  I  loved  my  books,  he  furnished  me 

with  volumes  tliat 

I  prize  above  my  dukedom. 

The  monster  Caliban,  plotting  to  destroy  him,  tells  his  fellow  conspirators, 

Thou  may'st  brain  him 
Having  first  seized  his  books.  .  .  .  Remember 
First  to  possess  his  books;   for  without  them 
He's  but  a  sot  as  I  am!  .  .  .  Burn  but  his  books. 

See  The  Tempest  (Sprague's  ed.),  I,  ii,  73,  74,  77,  89,  90,  109,  110;  III. 
i,  19,  20,  94;  ii.  84,  85,  87-91;  V,  i,  56,  57.  See  also  Macbeth,  I,  vii,  6 
(Sprague's  ed.)  and  the  note  on  "  this  bank  and  school  of  time,"  where 
nearly  all  editors  erroneously  change  '  school '  to  shoalt 

26  The  earliest  charter  of  the  East  India  Company  was  granted  by 
Elizabeth  Dec.  31.  1600.  The  earliest  mention  of  Twelfth  Night  is  in  a 
diary  by  John  Manningham  of  the  Middle  Temple;  thus:  "  At  our  feast 
(Feb.  2,  1601-2)  we  had  a  play  called  Twelfth  Night,  or  What  You  Will." 
—  Outlines,   II,   82. 

2*  "  Shakespeare  is  Hamlet,"  say  many  critics.  The  prince  tells  us  how. 
like  a  schoolmaster  with  due  regard  to  penmanship,  punctuation,  syntax, 
and  rhetoric,  he  forged  a  new  commission  from  the  king  of  Denmark  to 
the  king  of  England  — 


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Studies  in  Shakespeare 


Ere  I  could  make  a  prologue  to  my  brains. 

They  had  begun  the  play.     I  sat  me  down, 

Devised  a  new  commission,  wrote  it  fair:  — 

I  once  did  hold  it,  as  our  statists  do, 

A  baseness  to  write  fair,  and  labored  much 

How  to  forget  that  learning;   but,  sir,  now 

It  did  me  yeoman's  service.  .  .  . 

An  earnest  conjuration  from  the  king, 

As  England  was  his  faithful  tributary. 

As  Love  between  them  like  the  palm  might  flourish, 

As  Peace  should  still  her  wheaten  garland  wear 

And  stand  a  comma  'tween  their  amities. 

And  many  such  like  as  's  of  great  charge,  etc. 

—  V,  ii,  30-43  (Sprague's  ed.). 

In  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  Peter  Quince,  personating  the  Prologue 
in  "  the  play  within  the  play,"  suggests  by  his  mispunctuation  and  false 
inflections  the  need  of  a  schoolmaster's  correcting  hand  and  voice.  —  See 
note  to  V,  i,  108-117  (Sprague's  ed.).  The  verbal  and  vocal  trick  is  very 
like  that  in  the  letter  to  Dame  Custance  in  the  funny  comedy  of  Ralph 
Roister  Doister  (1553)  by  Nicholas  Udall  (1505-1556). 

2' In  The  Taming  of  the  Shrew  (I,  i,  92-95),  Bianca's  father  Baptista 
says  of  her, 

And  for  I  know  she  taketh  most  delight 
In  music,  instruments,  and  poetry. 
Schoolmasters  will  I  keep  within  my  house 
Fit  to  instruct  lier  youth. 

28  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  III,  i,  26-43.  —  If  William  taught  Miss  Hathaway 
as  Lucentio  probably  taught  Bianca  the  familiar  paradigm, 

amo,  I  love,  amarem,  I  might,  could,  would  or  should  love, 

amas,  thou  lovest,  amares,  you  might,  could,  would,  or  should  love, 
etc.,  etc.  etc.,  etc. 

he  very  likely  soon  became  more  a  learner  than  a  teacher.  Slowly  hia 
"  sense  undazzled  "  till  he  cor.Id  say  with  Biron  of  the  new,  uplifting, 
inspiring,  illuminating,  energising  mysterious  force, 

Other  slow  arts  entirely  keep  the  brain, 

But  Love,  first  learned  in  a  lady's  eyes, 
Lives  not  alone  immured  in  the  brain. 


[98] 


His  Early  Manhood 

But  with  the  motion  of  all  elements. 
Courses  as  swift  as  thought  in  every  power, 
And  gives  to  every  power  a  double  power. 

It  adds  a  precious  seeing  to  the  eye: 
A  lover's  eye  will  gaze  an  eagle  blind; 
A  lover's  ear  will  hear  the  lowest  sound 

Love's  tongue  proves  dainty  Bacchus  gross  in  taste: 

For  valor,  is  not  Love  a  Hercules, 

Still  climbing  trees  in  the  Hesperides? 

Subtle  as  Sphinx;   as  sweet  and  musical 

As  bright  Apollo's  lute,  strung  with  his  hair? 

—  L.L.L..  IV,  iii,  319-338 

'» We  think  of  him  as  of  Posthumus  Leonatus.  By  self-education,  the 
only  real  education, 

"  Self -schooled,  self-scanned,  self-centred,  self-secure," 

he  did  for  himself  in  spite  of  his  narrow  circumstances  what  King  Cymbe- 
line  did  for  his  protege  — 

Puts  to  him  all  the  learnings  that  his  time 

Could  make  him  the  receiver  of;   which  he  took, 

As  we  do  air,  fast  as  twas  ministered. 

And  in  's  spring  became  a  harvest.  —  Cymbeline,  I,  i,  43-46. 

'o  See  article  on  Falstaff  and  Equity  in  the  magazine  Shakespeareana  for 
April,  1893,  pp.  68,  69,  70. 

"  Those  who  argue  from  the  case  of  Shylock  vs.  Antonio  that  Shakespeare 
was  ignorant  of  the  technique  of  the  legal  profession  appear  to  misappre- 
hend the  purpose  of  the  dramatist.  It  was  not  to  show  off  his  own 
knowledge  of  law  or  judicature,  but,  if  we  may  use  his  masterly  description 
of  'the  end  of  playing,'  "to  hold,  as  't  were,  the  mirror  up  to  nature; 
to  show  Virtue  her  own  feature,  Scorn  her  own  image,  and  the  very  age 
and  body  of  the  time  his  form  and  pressure."  This  is  exactly  what  he 
appears  to  have  done  in  this  case.  Not  satisfied  with  portraying  the 
beauty  and  glory  of  celestial  mercy  in  the  eloquent  language  of  Portia, 
the  finest  speech  in  Shakespeare,  and  the  detestable  image  of  cruelty  in  the 
scornful  words  of  Shylock,  he  has  taken  special  pains  to  hold  before  us  as 
in  a  mirror  "  the  very  age  and  body  of  the  time,"  reproducing  what 
might  very  naturally  have  taken  place  in  a  Venetian  court  hundreds  of 
years  before. 


[99] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


First,  a  learned  jurist  is  invited  by  the  duke,  not  to  ascertain  the  facts  — 
these  are  already  agreed  upon  —  but  to  expound  and  apply  the  law. 

Secondly,  in  place  of  the  invited  Bellario,  young  Portia  comes  in  disguise 
to  act  as  judge,  and  is  accepted  as  such  by  the  duke,  who  presides  as 
chief  justice. 

Thirdly,  she  is  accepted  in  due  form  by  the  plaintiff,  Shylock. 

Fourthly,  she  is  accepted  by  the  defendant,  Antonio. 

Fifthly,  being  thus  invested  with  power,  she  renders  judgments  adhering 
closely  to  the  story  in  the  Italian  novel,  exercising  a  fourfold  jurisdiction. 

Sixthly,  instead  of  the  customary  '  gratification  '  {honorarium)  to  which 
she  was  morally,  though  not  by  force  of  law,  entitled,  but  which  she 
declines,  she  takes  from  Bassanio  as  a  souvenir  the  ring  she  had  given  him 
the  day  before!  See  Merchant  of  Venice,  IV,  i,  100,  101;  161;  229-231; 
233,  234;    290-385;    397;    417;    ii,  9  (Sprague's  ed.). 

^2  If  we  feel  bound  to  accept  as  true  any  account  of  escapades  on  young 
Shakespeare's  part,  we  may  perhaps  reasonably  explain  them  as  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  did  those  of  Prince  Hal  in  company  with  Falstaff  and  other 
rakes.     Says  the  earl  to  the  king, 

The  prince  but  studies  his  companions 

Like  a  strange  tongue;   wherein,  to  gain  the  language, 

'T  is  needful  that  the  most  immodest  word 

Be  looked  upon  and  learned;   which  once  attained. 

Your  highness  knows,  comes  to  no  further  use 

But  to  be  known  and  hated!  —  2  King  Henry  IV;  IV,  iv,  68-73. 

Studying  human  nature  in  wild  pranks,  low  resorts,  vulgar  companions? 
The  sudden  and  complete  change  from  the  dissolute  prince  to  the  grave, 
pious,  scholarly  King  Henry  V,  seems  almost  a  miracle  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury, 

Since  his  addiction  was  to  courses  vain; 

His  companies  unlettered,  rude,  and  shallow; 

His  hours  filled  up  with  riots,  banquets,  sports; 

And  never  noted  in  him  any  study.  —  King  Henry  V,  I,  i,  54-57 

The  Bishop  of  Ely  replies  — 

The  strawberry  grows  underneath  the  nettle. 

And  so  the  prince  obscured  his  contemplation 
Under  the  veil  of  wildness;  which,  no  doubt. 
Grew  like  the  summer  grass,  fastest  by  niglit. 
Unseen,  yet  crescive  in  his  faculty! — King  Henry  V,  I,  i,  60,  63-66, 


[100] 


His  Early  Manhood  ■    , 

As   in    Hamlet   and    Prospero,   so   the   commentators   think   they   recognize 
something  of  Shakespeare  in  his  favorite  monarch,  Henry  the  Fifth. 

"  Betterton's  testimony  is  valuable.  He  communicated  many  facts  to 
Rowe.  See  Halliwell-Phillipps'  Outlines,  i,  12-15;  ii,  251.  Thomas  Jones 
(born  circa  1615,  dying  1703),  who  lived  at  Tarbick,  near  Stratford; 
William  Oldys,  antiquarian  (1696-1761);  Nicholas  Rowe,  dramatist  and 
translator,  "the  first  critical  editor  of  Shakespeare,"  1709  (1674-1718, 
poet  laureate  in  1715);  Edward  Capell,  Shakespearian  commentator 
(1713-1781),  and  others,  relate  the  story  of  the  ballad,  which  they  had 
heard  from  old  Stratford  people,  their  grandfathers  or  others  who  had 
known  the  Shakespeares  or  the  Lucys.     They  quote  as  follows: 

"  A  parliament  member,  a  justice  of  peace. 
At  home  a  poor  scarecrow,  at  London  an  ass, 
If  lowsie  is  Lucy,  as  some  folk  miscall  it, 
Then  Lucy  is  lowsie  whatever  befall  it! 
He  thinks  himself  great, 
Yet  an  ass  in  his  state 
We  allow  by  his  ears  but  with  asses  to  mate. 
If  Lucy  is  lowsie,  as  some  folk  miscall  it. 
Sing  O  lowsie  Lucy,  whatever  befall  itl  " 


It  hardly  needs  to  be  added  that  the  letters  o  w  in  the  third,  fourth,  and 
last  two  lines  are  to  be  sounded  like  ou  in  Louis,  not  like  ow  in  now. 

For  a  quite  thorough  discussion  of  this  deer-stealing  and  its  conse- 
quences, see  Halliwell-Phillipps"  Outlines,  Vol.  I,  pp.  67-76.  For  interesting 
remarks  about  the  ballad  and  the  Lucys,  see  the  Outlines,  Vol.  II,  pp.  379- 
390.  Sir  Thomas  was  elected  to  the  parliaments  of  1571  and  1584.  —  The 
great  actor,  Betterton  (1635-1710),  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

^  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  family  show  three 
interlaced  luces,  the  luce  being  a  fish,  a  pike  full-grown.  The  device  is  on 
the  seal,  the  vanes,  and  emblazoned  on  the  stained  glass  in  the  large 
Gothic  bow  windows.  The  paranomasia  on  luce,  the  fish;  louses,  the 
peculidae  vestimenti;  and  Lucy  the  family  name;  was  natural  enough,  and 
had  been  repeated  for  ages. 

The  following  objections  have  been  urged  against  the  authenticity  of  the 
anecdote: 

(1)  Sir  Thomas  had  no  deer  park  at  Charlecote. 

(2)  The  only   punishment  allowed   by   statute   for   poaching  was   fine   and 
imprisonment. 

(3)  No  one  is  known  to  have  twitted  Shakespeare  with  it. 

(4)  Lucy  was  high  sheriff  and  William's  father  had  been  mayor. 


[101] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


(5)  Sir  Thomas  died  August  18th,  1600,  and  it  would  have  been  ungracious 
r  even  cowardly  for  the  dramatist  to  satirize  the  dead  knight  in  writing 

The  Merry  Wives. 
To  these  objections  respectively  we  may  answer  as  follows: 

(1)  Sir  Thomas's  son  and  heir  in  1602  sent  a  buck  from  Charlecote  as  a 
present  to  Harefield  on  the  occasion  of  a  four-days'  visit  there  by  Queen 
Elizabeth. 

(2)  This  was  not  simple  larceny,  but  a  riotous  trespass. 

(3)  It  was  not  regarded  as  a  disreputable  offence.  Many  a  dignitary  in 
church  and  state  in  his  maturer  years  has  felt  an  ill-disguised  satisfaction 
if  not  pride  in  having  participated  in  just  such  sport  in  his  youth. 

(4)  William's  father  had  fallen  into  obscurity  if  not  disgrace  in  his  poverty. 

(5)  This  scene  in  Merry  Wives  in  all  probability  was  written  a  year  or  two 
before  Sir  Thomas's  death,  and  there  is  really  no  spite  in  it;  only  good- 
natured  fun. 

For  the  earliest  manuscript  account  of  the  poaching,  see  what  is  said  of 
the  writers.  Rev.  William  Fulman  and  Archdeacon  Richard  Davies,  by 
Halliwell-Phillipps  in  his  Outlines,  I,  ii,  68,  69;  II,  71.  They  speak  of  the 
young  man  as  "  oft  whipt  "  for  poachingi 

'^  It  was  the  work  of  one  Gerard  Johnson,  "  tomb-maker,"  born  in 
Holland,  but  resident  twenty-six  years  in  England.  It  had  been  colored 
to  the  life,  and  the  coloring  was  renewed  in  1748;  but  in  1793  the  learned 
and  usually  judicious  Shakespearian  scholar,  Edmund  Malone  (1741-1812), 
caused  it  to  be  painted  white  in  imitation  of  classic  marble.  In  1861  the 
white  was  removed,  and  the  former  colors  were  restored.  Undoubtedly  it 
was  intended  to  represent  faithfully  the  complexion,  features,  and  facial 
expression. 

In  June,  1882,  with  the  aid  of  a  ladder  I  examined  the  bust  from  various 
points  of  view  on  a  level  with  the  face.  I  saw  it  in  different  lights,  for 
rain  and  sunshine  were  alternating  that  day.  Upon  wiping  off  with  a 
handkerchief  the  thick  dust  from  Shakespeare's  face  and  eyes,  I  was  much 
struck  with  the  different  expression  of  the  features  when  viewed  from 
opposite  sides.  The  right  side  of  the  countenance  is  for  tragedy;  the  left, 
for  comedy!  If  the  difference  is  not  accidental,  it  evinces  real  skill  on  the 
part  of  Johnson,  who  was  not  a  sculptor  but  a  Southwark  stone-mason, 
and  it  well  atones  for  the  evident  crudity  of  the  rest  of  the  performance. 

S8  The  Ghost  in  Hamlet  must  of  course  have  been  in  form  and  move- 
ment a  facsimile  of  the  older  Hamlet,  king  of  Denmark,  whose  physical 
proportions  were  magnificent.  (Hamlet,  I,  i,  41,  47-49,  143;  ii,  186-188; 
and  especially  III,  iv,  55-63;  Sprague's  ed.) — The  "kingly  parts  played 
in  sport  "  by  Shakespeare  are  not  named;  but  besides  the  Caesars,  the 
princes  and  dukes,  twenty  kings  are  introduced  in  the  plays,  and  it  would 
have  been  strange  if  he  had  personated  none  of  them.     See  the  statement 


[102] 


Ilis  Early  Manhood 

of  John  Davies  of  Hereford  (1610;  Fleay  says  1607),  quoted  by  Halliwell- 
Phillipps  in  Outlines  II,    154. 

3'  Of  these  three  elements,  doubtless  two  are  of  prime  importance;  in 
early  life  the  first,  in  later  years  the  last. 

'"  It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  his  painstaking  in  the  matter  of 
felicitous  expression.  To  attain  this  he  had  ransacked  the  stores  of  English 
speech,"  "  searched  its  coffers,"  as  Milton  would  say,  and  acquired  his 
unequaled  working  vocabulary.  These  raw  materials  he  kneaded  and 
moulded  with  extraordinary  care. 

Felicitous  speech  was  admired  in  polite  society  all  over  Europe,  and  the 
publication  of  John  Lyly's  Enphues,  when  William  was  fifteen,  soon  made 
it  a  fashion,  a  fad,  a  craze  in  all  England  for  many  years.  Shakespeare 
ridiculed  its  excess;  but  he  must  have  felt  the  impulse,  and  with  finest 
taste,  avoiding  its  fantastic  conceits,  he  was  stimulated  to  seek  ever  the 
best  possible  expression.  In  his  sonnets  he  appears  to  be  practising  poetic 
gymnastics.  In  his  plays  he  is  trying  his  skill  at  fittest  phrasing.  By 
verbal  ingenuities,  word  and  sentence  manipulation,  choicest  locutions, 
inversions,  antitheses,  onomatopoeia,  unlimited  personification,  alliteration, 
assonance,  linguistic  jugglery;  not  disdaining  clever  tricks  of  talk,  quibbles, 
paronomasia,  multitudinous  malapropisms;  he  contrives  with  seeming 
spontaneity  to  hit  always  upon  the  most  pleasing,  the  most  distinctive, 
the  most  striking  forms. 

It  is  dangerous  to  attempt  to  improve  upon  the  language  of  Milton  or 
Shakespeare.  I  recollect  but  one  or  two  attempts  of  my  own  in  which  I 
seem  to  myself  to  have  succeeded.  In  Macbeth,  I,  vii,  12,  I  would  sub- 
stitute for  the  word  "  double  "  the  word  treble  or  triple.  (See  note  in 
Sprague's  ed.)  The  words  are  He's  here  in  double  trust.  —  (See  note  on 
the  116th  Sonnet,  ante.) 

"  The  poet's  pen,"  says  Shakespeare,  "  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

Oftener  it  treats  airy  vocables  as  solid  realities;  the  word  and  thought, 
the  phrase  and  concept  are  nearly  or  quite  identical.  "  Here,"  says 
Professor  Barrett  Wendell,  "  we  have  the  trait  which,  above  all  others, 
defines  the  artistic  individuality  of  Shakespeare.  To  him,  beyond  any 
other  writer  of  English,  words  and  thoughts  seemed  naturally  identical." 
See  Prof.  Wendell's  William  Shakespeare,  a  book  that  should  be  in  thejhands 
of  every  student  of  the  drama. 


1103] 


Studij  III 
Shakespeare's  Sword  and  Musket 


THE   FIRST   GREAT    SOLDIER-AUTHOR? 
1491    B.   C. 

This  was  the  bravest  warrior 
That  ever  buckled  sword ; 
This  the  most  gifted  poet 

That  ever  breathed  a  word ; 
And  never  earth's  philosopher 
Traced  with  his  golden  pen 
On  the  deathless  page 
Truths  half  so  sage 
As  he  wrote  down  for  men| 
— The  Burial  of  Moses, 

by  Mrs.  Alexander. 


THE   HAPPY   WARRIOR 

Who  is  the  happy  warrior?     Who  is  he 

That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be?  — 

It  is  the  generous  spirit,  who,  when  brought 

Among  the  tasks  of  real  life,  hath  wrought 

Upon  the  plan  that  pleased  his  boyish  thought; 

Whose  high  endeavors  are  an  inward  light 

That  makes  the  path  before  him  always  bright: 

W^ho,  with  a  natural  instinct  to  discern 

What  knowledge  can  perform,  is  diligent  to  learn; 

Abides  by  this  resolve,  and  stops  not  there, 

But  makes  his  moral  being  his  prime  care; 

Who,  doomed  to  go  in  company  with  Pain 

And  Fear  and  Bloodshed,  miserable  train! 

Turns  his  necessity  to  glorious  gain:  — 

*T  is  he  whose  law  is  reason ;  who  depends 
Upon  that  law  as  on  the  best  of  friends ; 

Who  comprehends  his  trust,  and  to  the  same 
Keeps  faithful  with  a  singleness  of  aim  — 

'T  is,  finally,  the  man,  who,  lifted  high, 
Or  left,  unthought-of,  in  obscurity, 

Finds  comfort  in  himself  and  in  his  cause. 
And,  while  the  mortal  mist  is  gathering,  draws 
His  breath  in  confidence  of  Heaven's  applause. 
This  is  the  happy  warrior;  this  is  he 
That  every  man  in  arms  should  wish  to  be.  — 
— William  Wordsworth,  1806-7. 


STUDY  III 
SHAKESPEARE'S  SWORD  AND  MUSKET 

A    STUDY   OF    THE   MILITARY    ELEMENT    IN    THE 
MAN    AND    HIS    DREAMS 

A  Preliminary  word  in  regard  to  Soldier- 
Authors. 

A  life-long  soldiership  must  be  fatal  to  author- 
ship; a  brief  one  may  transform  the  sword  into  a 
pen.  With  pardonable  exaggeration  the  sweet 
Scottish  songstress^  sings  of  the  great  Hebrew, 
who  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago  united 
in  himself  warrior,  poet,  statesman,  theologian, 
historian,  lawgiver,  and  prophet. 

With  a  passionate  loyalty  which  impelled  him 
at  the  outset  of  his  career  to  strike  down  an 
Egyptian  smiting  an  Israelite;  with  a  chivalrous 
reverence  for  womanhood  that  made  him,  though 
a  stranger,  champion  of  the  wronged  daughters  of 
the  priest  of  Midian;  yet  with  a  modest  self- 
depreciation  or  disinterestedness  that  has  rendered 
his  name  for  all  subsequent  ages  a  synonym  for 
meekness ;  —  perhaps  the  leading  impression  gained 
from  a  study  of  his  character  and  deeds  is  a  sense 
of  energy.  This,  as  always  with  soldiers  and  with 
almost  every  man  of  genius,  must  have  been,  at 
least  in  part,  physical;  and  accordingly  we  are  told 
that  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and   twenty  "  his 

[109] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

eye  was  not  dim  nor  his  natural  force  abated." 
In  whatever  direction  he  acted  a  fiery  vigor  blazes 
forth,  just  as  truly  as  in  the  earliest  and  grandest 
of  martial  hymns,  "  The  Song  of  Moses,"  when  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Israel  had  passed  through 
the  sea  and  the  pursuing  hosts  were  drowned  — 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously: 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the  sea. 

With   the   blast   of   thy   nostrils   the   waters    were   gathered 

together, 
The  floods  stood  upright  as  a  heap. 
The  depths  were  congealed  in  the  heart  of  the  sea.  — 
The  enemy  said, 

I  will  pursue,  I  will  overtake,  I  will  divide  the  spoil; 
My  lust  shall  be  satisfied  upon  them; 
I  will  draw  my  svv^ord,  my  hand  shall  destroy  them!  — 
Thou  didst  blow  with  thy  wind,  the  sea  covered  them; 
They  sank  as  lead  in  the  mighty  waters!  — 
Who  is  like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods? 
Who  is  like  unto  thee,  glorious  in  holiness, 
Fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders?  "^ 

Such  men  are  necessarily  few:  human  nature  is 
rarely  great  enough  to  combine  intensest  thought 
with  stoutest  action.  The  strong  man  is  usually 
strong  in  but  one  direction.  If,  like  the  image  in 
Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  the  head  be  of  gold,  and 
the  breast  silver,  and  the  thighs  brass,  and  the  legs 
iron,  the  feet  will  be  partly  at  least  of  clay.  There 
is  a  law  of  compensation  here,  some  defect  offsetting 
every  excellence.^ 

[110] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

Accordingly  hundreds  of  years  elapse  before 
another  world-renowned  soldier  author  marches 
before  us.  It  is  the  Psalmist,  warrior  and  poet; 
slayer  in  youth  of  savage  beasts  and  the  more 
savage  giant;  softening  with  music  the  sad  in- 
sanity of  his  king  and  the  sorrows  and  frenzy  of 
uncounted  millions  since. 

Five  hundred  years  after  David  another  martial 
poet  arises;  earliest  and  loftiest  of  writers  of 
tragedy,  the  most  brilliant  character  in  early  Gre- 
cian history;  Athenian  yEschylus;  justly  proud 
of  his  deeds  at  Marathon,  where  with  his  two 
brothers  he  took  the  highest  prize  for  bravery,  and 
conspicuous  ten  years  later  at  Artemisium  and 
Salamis,  and  a  year  after  '  on  old  Platsea's  day.'* 

Three  and  a  half  centuries  pass,  and  he  is  born 
whom  Shakespeare  dares  to  call  '  the  foremost  man 
of  all  this  world,'  polished  gentleman,  luminous 
historian,  powerful  orator,  far-seeing  statesman; 
who,  had  his  life  been  spared  a  few  years  longer, 
would  perhaps  have  shown  himself  greatest  of 
reformers;  admittedly,  of  conquerors  one  of  the 
most  merciful;  yes,  and  one  of  the  most  extensive, 
subduing  much  of  what  is  now  Switzerland,  France, 
Belgium,  Holland,  Spain,  southern  England,  northern 
Africa,  southeastern  Europe,  southwestern  Asia;  pro- 
nounced by  Mommsen  '  the  sole  creative  genius  pro- 
duced by  ancient  Rome,  and  the  last  produced  by 
the  ancient  world  ' ;  —  the  most  illustrious  example 
in    history    of    the    soldier    author — Julius    Caesar. 

[Ill] 


Sttidies  in  Shakespeare 

Six  or  seven  centuries  glide  away,  and  the  meteor 
sword  of  the  great  Arabian,  author  of  the  Koran, 
flashes  across  the  sky. 

Three  hundred  other  years:  then,  in  the  darkness, 
a  thousand  years  ago  a  star-like  character  rises; 
warrior,  scholar,  author,  king;  declared  by  the 
historian  Freeman  to  be  '  the  most  perfect  character 
in  history';  Alfred  'the  truth-teller,'  'Alfred  the 
Great.' 

Four  hundred  years  more.  The  gifted  Floren- 
tine, heroic  in  battle  as  in  song,  a  luminary  of  the 
first  magnitude,  ascends  to  the  zenith,  and  is  flam- 
ing there  still;   immortal  Dante. 

Half  a  century  later  England's  '  morning  star  of 
song,'  shines  and  sings,  the  *  Father  of  English 
poetry,'  a  soldier  in  the  army  of  Edward  III,  a 
prisoner  of  war  in  France,  Geoffrey  Chaucer. 

Two  centuries  afterwards  a  constellation  of 
geniuses,  wielders  of  sword  and  pen,  illumines 
the  sky  of  Elizabeth;  such  as  Jonson,  Gascoigne, 
Lodge,  Raleigh.  Brightest  and  best  of  all  was  he 
who  sank  in  blood  on  the  field  of  Zutphen,  the 
gifted  poet,  the  first  skilled  artist  in  English  prose, 
Sir  Philip  Sidney. 

Across  the  sea  in  that  age,  the  chief  of  Spanish 
if  not  of  the  world's  humorists,  Cervantes,  is 
utilizing  his  extraordinary  experience  as  a  soldier, 
lighting  up,  tradition  tells  us,  the  darkness  of  a 
prison  with  phosphorescent  fun  in  composing  his 
immortal  Don  Quixote.     Three  quarters  of  a  century 

[112] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

later  in   the   gloom  of   Bedford   jail   the   prince  of 
prose  allegorists, 

"  Ingenious  dreamer,  in  whose  well-told  tale 
Sweet  fiction  and  sweet  truth  alike  prevail," 

works  his  military  career  into  the  luminous  pages 
of  his  Holy  War  and  his  Pilgrim's  Progress. 

We  have  passed  the  age  of  Elizabeth.  We  might 
come  down  to  America  and  our  own  times,  and 
speak  of  Grant,  Sherman,  Sheridan,  Logan,  Lew 
Wallace,  and  the  Confederates,  Generals  Long- 
street  and  Gordon,  my  gifted  classmate  Colonel 
William  Preston  Johnston,  and  others,  writers  as 
well  as  fighters;  all  tending  to  show  that  a  military 
life,  if  not  too  long  and  too  absorbing,  may  con- 
stitute a  valuable  preparation  and  to  some  extent 
an  equipment  for  a  literary  career.^ 

To  this  long  list  selected  from  the  chronicles  of 
more  than  thirty  centuries,  I  venture  to  suggest  the 
addition  of  another  name,  William  Shakespeare. 
Was  he  ever  a  soldier? 

Here  we  trench  on  debatable  ground;  but  per- 
haps it  may  be  held  against  all  attacks.  As  the 
technical  legal  knowledge  he  displays  convinced 
Lord  Chancellor  Campbell  and  Senator  Cushman 
K.  Davis  that  the  dramatist  had  mastered  the  law; 
and  as  twenty  or  thirty  other  professions  or  occupa- 
tions have  for  analogous  reasons  claimed  him  as  a 
trained    member    of    their    respective    vocations;     I 

[113] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

think  we  may  fairly  and  with  even  stronger  logic 
argue  that  he  must  have  been  for  a  while  a  soldier. 
For  of  all  the  terms  of  art,  science,  handicraft, 
business,  or  avocation,  scattered  with  wondrous 
profusion  through  his  dramas,  those  which  he  em- 
ploys most  lavishly,  are  of  matters  military. 

Before  proceeding  to  illustrate  this,  let  me  pre- 
mise that  if  he  was  long  in  the  army  the  fact 
would  not  only  account  for  his  several  years' 
disappearance  from  view,  but  it  might  throw  much 
light  upon  the  sources  whence  he  drew  certain  kinds 
of  knowledge  the  possession  of  which  by  him  is  not 
otherwise  easily  accounted  for. 

For  example:  The  most  distinctive  and  most 
useful  equipment  for  his  life  work  was  knowledge 
of  human  nature.  Perhaps  there  is  no  school  quite 
equal  to  the  army  for  that. 

In  passing  to  and  from  scenes  of  active  hostilities, 
he  would  sail  the  seas,  and  gain  that  familiarity 
with  navigation  which  surprises  all  who  read  his 
Tempest.^ 

In  marching,  drilling,  fortifying,  besieging,  mining, 
battering;  in  tents,  trenches,  barracks,  camps, 
forts,  ships;  in  frost  and  heat,  sun  and  rain,  dust 
and  mire,  he  would  meet  disease  in  many  forms, 
and  would  insensibly  become  a  physician.'' 

Campaigning  against  Spaniards  and  their  allies, 
Italians,  Frenchmen,  Walloons,  Germans,  Portu- 
guese; associating  with  Dutch,  Welsh,  Scotch,  Irish 
and  other  auxiliaries;    meeting  adventurers,  soldiers 

[114] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

of  fortune,  prisoners  of  war,  deserters,  camp  fol- 
lowers; he  would  pick  up,  schoolmaster-like,  that 
smattering  of  many  languages  with  which  his  plays 
are  besprinkled. 

Looking  beyond  the  immediate  present  in  place 
and  time,  great  questions  of  national  and  interna- 
tional polity  would  confront  him  and  tend  to  make 
him  a  statesman. 

In  the  fertile  fields  of  the  Netherlands  under 
Leicester  or  Sidney,  or  of  Ireland  under  Lord 
Grey  de  Wilton,  this  keen  and  comprehensive 
observer  would  be  in  perpetual  contact  with  rich 
flora  and  become  a  botanist;  for  students  of  plant- 
life  claim  him  as  of  their  peripatetic  tribe. 

Sir  Philip  was  General  of  Cavalry  in  the  Low 
Countries,  and  the  young  soldier  would  there  see 
splendid  steeds  and  more  splendid  riders.  His 
description  of  "  the  perfect  horse  "  surpasses  that 
of  the  reverend  romancer  of  the  Adirondacks.^ 
May  we  not  easily  believe  that  Sidney  was  the 
original  of  his  portrait  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  the 
First  Part  of  King  Henry  /F? 

I  saw  young  Harry  with  his  beaver  on, 
Plis  cuisses  on  his  thighs,  gallantly  armed, 
Rise  from  the  ground  like  feathered  Mercury, 
And  vaulted  with  such  ease  into  his  seat, 
As  if  an  angel  dropped  dov.-n  from  the  clouds 
To  turn  and  wind  a  fiery  Pegasus 
And  witch  the  world  with  noble  horsemanship! 

If  at  Leicester's  headquarters,   he  would  observe 

[115] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

court  scenes  and  ceremonies,  the  speech  and  man- 
ners of  the  nobiHty,  arrivals  and  departures  of 
ambassadors,  heralds,  aides-de-camp,  bearers  of 
dispatches  —  all  reproduced  by  and  by  in  the  plays 
to  the  amazement  of  those  who  cannot  conceive 
where  the  dramatist  could  have  learned  such  things. 
For  there  the  Commander-in-chief,  too  much  like 
a  king,  was  always  on  dress  parade,  surrounded  by 
three  or  four  lords,  a  score  of  knights,  a  hundred  of 
the  English  gentry,  all  playing  soldier,  and  always 
with  a  bevy  of  butterfly  ladies  who  would  better 
have  stayed  at  home.^ 

So  bright  and  quick-witted  a  young  man  would 
have  made  the  best  of  clerks  or  orderlies.  Have 
we  a  glimpse  of  such  '  detached  service  '  in  the 
remark  of  Parolles,  '  The  letter  is  on  file  with  the 
duke's  other  letters  in  my  tent  '?  and  in  the  request 
of  the  Earl  of  Richmond  the  night  before  the  battle 
of  Bosworth  Field  — 

Give  me  some  ink  and  paper  in  my  tent: 
I'll  draw  the  form  and  model  of  the  battle. 

In  such  a  position  above  that  of  an  ordinary 
private,  he  might  naturally  wish  to  acquire  skill 
as  a  swordsman,  the  accomplishment  of  a  gentle- 
man. In  evidence  of  his  familiarity  with  fencing, 
we  name  without  defining  some  of  the  terms  he 
uses;  thus:  '  three  veneys  for  a  dish  of  stewed 
prunes,'  '  a  quick  venue  of  wit,'  '  dismount  thy 
tuck':    *  to  see  thee  foin,  to  see  thee  traverse,   to 

[116] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

see  thee  pass  thy  punto  ' :  '  thy  stock,  thy  reverse, 
thy  distance,  thy  montant ' :  'a  pass  of  practice 
and  a  sword  unbated  ' :  '  the  duello  ' :  *  the  pas- 
sado':  'the  punto  reverso,  the  hay':  'stoccado': 
'  a  la  stoccata.' 

Most  remarkable  are  the  multitudes  of  allusions 
or  references  that  show  a  mind  saturated  with 
military  ideas  and  soldier  talk.  This  technique 
in  Shakespeare  is  perhaps  twice  as  copious  as  any 
other.  Ordinary  civil  life  could  afford  little  or  no 
opportunity  to  acquire  it.  The  gulf  that  separates 
the  colorless  phraseology  of  any  peaceful  vocation 
from  the  vividly  painted  vocabulary  of  the  fighting 
profession  is  wider  and  more  difficult  to  span  than 
that  which  keeps  most  of  the  non-martial  occupa- 
tions apart  from  each  other.  I  speak  from  over 
four  years'  experience  of  active  service  in  the  Union 
army.  Mere  books  were  inadequate  in  Shake- 
speare's time  to  communicate  the  peculiar  dialect, 
the  patois,  jargon,  lingo,  slang  even;  and  there 
were  no  newspapers.  Something  of  it,  but  not 
much  of  its  familiar  use,  might  be  caught  from  old 
soldiers. 

To  illustrate  this  familiarity,  I  quote,  without 
explaining,  a  few  out  of  a  hundred  or  more  of  such 
significant  expressions  as  I  happen  to  light  upon 
them. 

"  The  sergeant  of  the  band  sets  up  his  rest  to 
do  more  exploits  with  his  mace  than  a  morris 
pike,"  —  "  Pluck  your  sword  out  of  his  pilcher."  — ■ 

[117] 


Studies  in  SJmkespeare 

"  Corporal  of  his  field."  — "  Like  powder  in  a 
skilless  soldier's  flask,  is  set  on  fire  by  thine  own 
ignorance."  —  "I  give  thee  the  bucklers."  —  "  You 
must  put  in  the  pikes  with  a  vice."  — 

"  Like  to  a  murderlng-piece  in  many  places 
Gives  me  superfluous  death."  — 

"  Sorrows  come  not  single  spies,  but  in  battalions." 

— "  Methought   I    lay  worse   than   the   mutines   in 

the   bilboes."  —  "  Compassed   like   a   good   bilbo   in 

the    circumference   of   a    peck,    hilt    to    point,   heel 

to  head."  — 

"  What  an  eye  she  hath! 
Methinks  it  sounds  a  parley  of  provocation 

And  when  she  speaks,  is  it  not  an  alarm  to  love?"  — 

"  To  instruct  for  the  doubling  of  files."  —  "  Had 
the  whole  theoric  of  war  in  the  knot  of  his  scarf, 
and  the  practice  in  the  chape  of  his  dagger."  — 
"  The  clown  shall  make  those  laugh  whose  lungs 
are  tickle  o'  the  sere."^°  — 

"  The  nimble  gunner 
With  linstock  now  the  devilish  cannon  touches, 
And  down  goes  all  before  him."  — 

"  Time  delves  the  parallels  in  Beauty's  brow."  — 

"  When  forty  winters  shall  besiege  thy  brow 
And  dig  deep  trenches  in  thy  beauty's  field."  — 

"  His  coward  lips  did  from  their  color  fly."  —  "I 
must  advance  the  colors  of  my  love."  — 

[118] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

"  Thou  art  not  conquered;   Beauty's  ensign  yet 
Is  crimson  in  thy  lips  and  on  thy  cheek, 
And  Death's  pale  flag  is  not  advanced  there."  — 

"  If  he  be  angry,  he  knows  how  to  turn  his  girdle." 
— "  Hal,  if  thou  seest  me  down  in  the  battle, 
and  bestride  me,  so;  'T  is  a  point  of  friendship."  — 
"  Nothing  but  a  colossus  can  do  thee  that  friend- 
ship! Say  thy  prayers,  and  farewell."  —  "I  would 
't  were  bedtime,  Hal,  and  all  were  well." 

"  Many  a  time  hath  banished  Norfolk  fought 
For  Jesu  Christ  in  glorious  Christian  field, 
Streaming  the  ensign  of  the  Christian  cross 
Against  black  pagans,  Turks,  and  Saracens: 
And  toiled  with  works  of  war,  retired  himself 
To  Italy;  and  there  at  Venice  gave 
His  body  to  that  pleasant  country's  earth, 
And  his  pure  soul  unto  his  Captain  Christ, 
Under  whose  colors  he  had  fought  so  long."" 

"  I  dare  not  fight,  but  I  will  wink,  and  hold  out 
mine  iron,  ....  it  will  toast  cheese." 

"  Put  up  thy  sword  betime, 
Or  I'll  so  maul  you  and  your  toasting-iron 
That  you  shall  think  the  devil  is  come  from  hell." 

"  Fortuna  de  la  guerra."  — 

"  To  be  the  mark 
Of  smoky  muskets?     O  you  leaden  messengers, 
That  ride  upon  the  violent  speed  of  fire, 
Fly  with  false  aim;   move  the  still-piecing  air 
That  sings  with  piercing;    do  not  touch  my  lord."  — 

"  What  fashion  will  you  wear  the  garland  of?  "  — 
"  Under  your  arm  like  a  lieutenant's  scarf?  "  — 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

"  That  in  the  captain's  but  a  choleric  word 
Which  in  the  soldier  is  flat  blasphemy."  — 

"  According  to  my  description,   level  at  my  afifec- 
tion."  — 

"  As  level  as  the  cannon  to  his  blank 
Transmits  his  poisoned  shot."  — 

"  If    this    should    blast    in    proof."  — "  Words    too 
light  for  the  bore  of  the  matter."  — 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  multitude  of  examples 
that  might  be  cited.  Particularly  do  they  abound 
in  the  early  historical  plays,  King  John,  Richard 
II,  Richard  III,  the  three  Parts  of  Henry  VI, 
the  two  Parts  of  Henry  IV,  Henry  V.  Bristling 
all  over  with  speech  of  war  and  battle,  they  il- 
lustrate Coleridge's  remark,  "  A  young  author's 
first  work  almost  always  bears  traces  of  his  recent 
pursuits."  His  brain  is  saturated  with  them  like 
Hotspur's,  who  can  talk  of  nothing  else  even  in  his 
sleep,  and  to  whom  his  wife.  Lady  Percy,  says, 

In  thy  faint  slumbers  I  by  thee  have  watched 

And  heard  thee  murmur  tales  of  iron  wars, 

Speak  terms  of  manage  to  thy  bounding  steed, 

Cry  "  Courage!    to  the  field!  "     And  thou  hast  talked 

Of  '  sallies  '  and  '  retires  ';   of  '  trenches,'  '  tents  '; 

Of  '  palisadoes,'  '  frontiers,'  '  parapets  '; 

Of  '  basilisks';   of  '  cannon,'  *  culverin  '; 

Of  prisoners'  ransom  and  of  soldiers  slain, 

And  all  the  current  of  a  heady  fight!^^ 

[120] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

In  Romeo  and  Juliet,  perhaps  his  earliest  tragedy, 
Queen  Mab's  pranks  are  provocative  of  similar 
dreams. 

Sometimes  she  driveth  o'er  a  soldier's  neck, 
And  then  dreams  he  of  cutting  foreign  throats, 
Of  '  breaches,'  '  ambuscadoes,'  Spanish  '  blades,' 
Of  healths  five  fathom  deep;   and  then  anon 
Drums  in  his  ear,  at  which  he  starts  and  wakes, 
And  being  thus  frighted  swears  a  prayer  or  two 
And  sleeps  again!^^ 

In  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  his  second  or 
third  comedy,  three  careers  are  specified  as  being 
particularly  appropriate  and  customary  for  enter- 
prising young  men  — 

Some  to  the  wars,  to  try  their  fortunes  there; 
Some  to  discover  islands  far  away; 
Some  to  the  studious  universities.^^ 

In  Shakespeare's  celebrated  division  of  man's  life 
into  seven  ages,  note  that  the  soldier  stage  comes 
next  after  the  lover's.  He  describes  it  as  a  matter 
of  course  for  a  young  man  to  be  a  lover;  and  next, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  for  him  to  become  a  soldier. 
Is  he  not  thinking  of  his  own  experience? 

Then  the  lover 

Sighing  like  furnace,  with  a  woful  ballad 
Made  to  his  mistress'  eyebrow:  then  a  soldier 
Full  of  strange  oaths,  and  bearded  like  the  pard, 
Jealous  in  honor,  sudden  and  quick  in  quarrel. 
Seeking  the  bubble  reputation 
Even  in  the  cannon's  mouth!  ^^ 

[121] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Unlike  Lord  Bacon,  Shakespeare  was  conscien- 
tiously opposed  to  unjust  war.  He  states  (is  it  the 
first  time  in  literature?)  the  unanswerable  argument; 
namely,  International  war  cannot  be  waged  with- 
out the  deliberate  shedding  of  innocent  blood.  It 
is  in  a  passage  which  he  originates  (its  source  not 
found  elsewhere),  in  which  he  makes  Henry  the 
Fifth  say  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  who  had 
urged  him  to  invade  France, 

God  doth  know  how  many  now  in  health 
Shall  drop  their  blood  in  approbation 
Of  what  your  reverence  shall  incite  us  to. 
Therefore  take  heed  how  you  impawn  our  person, 
How  you  awake  our  sleeping  sword  of  war; 
We  charge  you  in  the  name  of  God,  take  heed! 
For  never  two  such  nations  did  contend 
Without  much  fall  of  blood;   whose  GUILTLESS  drops 
Are  every  one  a  woe,  a  sore  complaint 
'  Gainst  him  whose  wrong  gives  edge  unto  the  swords 
That  make  such  waste  in  brief  mortality. 

May  I  with  right  and  conscience  make  this  claim?^^ 

He  shows  us  King  Henry  the  night  before  the 
battle  of  Agincourt  visiting  incognito  his  sentinels, 
and  earnestly  impressing  upon  them  the  duty  of 
being  constantly  prepared  for  death.  Speaking  of 
wicked  men  dying  in  battle  he  says,  "  If  these 
men  have  defeated  the  law  and  outrun  native 
punishment,  though  they  can  outstrip  men,  they 
have  no  wings  to  fly  from  God!  "  Yet  he  makes 
Henry  hold   that  the  soldier's  duty  is  paramount. 

[122] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

He  says,  "  Every  subject's  duty  is  the  king's; 
but  every  subject's  soul  is  his  own.  Therefore 
should  every  soldier  in  the  wars  do  as  every 
sick  man  in  his  bed,  wash  every  mote  out  of  his 
conscience;  and  dying  so,  death  is  an  advantage; 
or  not  dying,  the  time  was  blessedly  lost  wherein 
such  preparation  was  gained. "^^ 

With  all  his  conscientious  objection  to  unjust 
war,  he  yet  has  the  true  military  spirit,  the  ad- 
miration for  heroic  daring,  the  martial  ardor  that 
'  stirs  the  blood  like  a  trumpet,'  at  thought  of 
*  fair,  square  fighting  ', 

"  And  the  stern  joy  that  warriors  feel 
In  foemen  worthy  of  their  steel." 

The  language  of  his  favorite  king,  in  whom  all 
critics  believe  they  discern  lineaments  of  the 
dramatist  himself,  will  be  recalled  — 

Once  more  unto  the  breach,  dear  friends,  once  more, 
Or  close  the  wall  up  with  our  English  dead! 

Stiffen  the  sinews,  summon  up  the  blood. 

Then  lend  the  eye  a  terrible  aspect; 

Let  it  pry  through  the  portage  of  the  head 

Like  the  brass  cannon;   let  the  brow  o'erwhelm  it. 

Now  set  the  teeth  and  stretch  the  nostril  wide, 
Hold  hard  the  breath,  and  bend  up  every  spirit 
To  his  full  height!     On,  on  you  noble  English! 
Whose  blood  is  fet  from  fathers  of  war-proof, 

'[123] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Be  copy  now  to  men  of  grosser  blood, 

And  teach  them  how  to  war!  —  And  you,  good  yeomen, 

Whose  limbs  were  made  in  England,  show  us  here 

The  mettle  of  your  pasture!     let  us  swear 

That  you  are  worth  your  breeding!   which  I  doubt  not; 

For  there  is  none  of  you  so  mean  and  base 

That  hath  not  noble  lustre  in  your  eyes! 

I  see  you  stand  like  greyhounds  in  the  slips, 

Straining  upon  the  start!     The  game  's  afoot! 

Follow  your  spirit;   and  upon  this  charge 

Cry  '  God  for  Harry,  England,  and  Saint  George!'^* 

Surely  here  is  the  spirit  which  all  admire  in  certain 
fowls  and  dogs  and  supposed  to  characterize  all 
English  fighters  long  before  and  since  Cromwell's 
Ironsides,  of  whom  it  is  recorded,  "  They  were 
accustomed  to  rejoice  greatly  whenever  they  came 
in  sight  of  the  enemy." 

Hence  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  in  the  plays 
passages  which  indicate  that  the  word  '  soldier ' 
has  along  with  animal  courage  and  contempt  of 
danger  and  death  a  distinctive  flavor  of  nobleness 
and  fidelity.  It  is  'a  name  that  best  becomes  ' 
a  manly  man.  "  Fie,  my  lord,  fie!  "  says  Lady 
Macbeth  in  the  sleep-walking  scene,  "  a  soldier 
and  afeard?  "  King  Henry  V,  wooing  Katherine, 
says,  "  I  speak  to  thee  plain  soldier  .  .  .  take  me, 
take  a  soldier;  take  a  soldier,  take  a  king."^^  So 
Ophelia  implies  when  she  says  of  Hamlet, 

O  what  a  noble  mind  is  here  o'erthrown! 

The  courtier's,  scholar's,  soldier's,  eye,  tongue,  sword!" 

[124] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

In  the  '  seven  ages  '  of  man  \n  As  You  Like  It, 
the  first  trait  of  the  soldier  is  '  Jealous  in  honor,' 

Seeking  the  bubble  Reputation 
Even  in  the  cannon's  mouth. 

Note  that  in  all  the  centuries  a  so-called  '  honor  ' 
in  the  estimation  of  the  military  man  is  the  su- 
preme virtue.  Yet  it  is  seen  to  be  often  but  an 
empty  bubble.  Falstaff  pricks  it  just  before  the 
battle  of  Shrewsbury  (1403)  — 

Honor  pricks  me  on.  Yea,  but  how  if  honor  prick 
me  off  when  I  come  on?  how  then?  Can  honor  set  to 
a  leg?  no;  or  an  arm?  no;  or  take  away  the  grief  of 
a  wound?  no.  Honor  hath  no  skill  in  surgery,  then? 
no.  What  is  honor?  a  word.  What  is  that  word 
honor?  air.  A  trim  reckoning!  Who  hath  it?  he 
that  died  o'  Wednesday.  Doth  he  feel  it?  no.  Doth 
he  hear  it?  no.  Is  it  insensible,  then?  yea,  to  the 
dead.  But  will  it  not  live  with  the  living?  no. 
Why?  detraction  will  not  suffer  it.  Therefore  I'll 
none  of  it.  Honor  is  a  mere  scutcheon;  and  so  ends 
my  catechism. ^^ 

Of  course  Shakespeare  must  sympathize  and 
share  in  the  sentiment  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk  in 
his  impassioned  utterance  in  Richard  the  Second  — 

The  purest  treasure  mortal  times  afford 

Is  spotless  reputation:   that  away. 

Men  are  but  gilded  loam  or  painted  clay. 


Mine  honor  is  my  life;   both  grow  in  one; 
Take  honor  from  me,  and  my  life  is  done.^^ 


[125] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

He  must  also  respect,  though  he  may  not  wholly 
admire  Hotspur's  glorification  of  a  kind  of  honor  in 
contempt  of  danger  and  death  — 

Sink  or  swim! 
Send  danger  from  the  east  unto  the  west, 
So  honor  cross  it  from  the  north  to  south, 
And  let  them  grapple!     Oh  the  blood  more  stirs 
To  rouse  a  lion  than  to  start  a  hare! 

By  heaven!   methinks  it  were  an  easy  leap 

To  pluck  bright  honor  from  the  pale-faced  moon, 

Or  dive  into  the  bottom  of  the  deep, 

Where  fathom-line  could  never  touch  the  ground. 

And  pluck  up  drowned  honor  by  the  locks. 

So  he  that  doth  redeem  her  thence  might  wear 

Without  corrival  all  her  dignities.^* 

But  Hotspur's  passion  is  at  bottom  selfish,  vain- 
glorious. It  longs  for  the  admiration  of  men; 
not  the  approving  voice  of  conscience.  It  is  the 
false  honor  of  Marcus  Brutus,  not  the  true  honor 
of  the  Founder  of  Christianity.  That  of  Shake- 
speare's favorite  king,  Henry  the  Fifth,  is  tinged 
with  patriotism,  modesty,  conscience.  In  the  early 
morning  of  St.  Crispin's  Day,  with  his  little  army 
of  12,000  he  is  confronted  by  the  flower  of  French 
chivalry,  fifty  thousand  strong.  They  block  his 
way  to  Calais.  Against  such  odds  he  must  give 
battle,  and  they  all  know  it  is  victory  or  death. 
In  presence  and  hearing  of  his  little  army  he  holds 
a  brief  council  of  war.  As  he  enters,  he  hears  the 
Earl  of  Westmoreland  sighing  for  reinforcements  — 

[126] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

O  that  we  now  had  here 
But  one  ten  thousand  of  those  men  in  England 
That  do  no  work  to-day! 

Henry  replies  — 

What  's  he  that  wishes  so? 
My  cousin  Westmoreland?     No,  my  fair  cousin: 
If  we  are  marked  to  die,  we  are  enow 
To  do  our  country  loss;   and  if  to  live, 
The  fewer  men  the  greater  share  of  honor! 
God's  will!    I  pray  thee,  wish  not  one  man  more. 
By  Jove!     I  am  not  covetous  for  gold. 
Nor  care  I  who  doth  feed  upon  my  cost; 
It  yearns  me  not  if  men  my  garments  wear; 
Such  outward  things  dwell  not  in  my  desires: 
But  if  it  be  a  sin  to  covet  Honor, 
I  am  the  most  offending  soul  alive. 
No,  faith,  my  coz,  wish  not  a  man  from  England: 
God's  peace!     I  would  not  lose  so  great  an  honor 
As  one  man  more,  methinks,  would  share  from  me, 
For  the  best  hope  I  have.     O  do  not  wish  one  more! 
Rather  proclaim  it,  Westmoreland,  through  my  host, 
That  he  which  hath  no  stomach  to  this  fight  — 
Let  him  depart;   his  passport  shall  be  made, 
And  crowns  for  convoy  put  into  his  purse: 
We  would  not  die  in  that  man's  company 
That  fears  his  fellowship  to  die  with  us. 
This  day  is  called  the  feast  of  Crispian: 
He  that  outlives  this  day  and  comes  safe  home, 
Will  stand  a  tip-toe  when  this  day  is  named. 
And  rouse  him  at  the  name  of  Crispian! 
He  that  shall  live  this  day  and  see  old  age, 
Will  yearly  on  the  vigil  feast  his  neighbors, 
And  say  "  To-morrow  is  Saint  Crispian!  " 
Then  will  he  strip  his  sleeve  and  show  his  scars, 
And  say  "  These  wounds  I  had  on  Crispin's  day!  "  — 

[127] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Old  men  forget;  yet  all  shall  be  forgot, 

But  he  '11  remember  with  advantages 

What  feats  he  did  that  day.    Then  shall  our  names 

Familiar  in  his  mouth  as  household  words  — 

Harry  the  king,  Bedford  and  Exeter, 

Warwick  and  Talbot,  Salisbury  and  Gloucester  — 

Be  in  their  flowing  cups  freshly  remembered. 

This  story  shall  the  good  man  teach  his  son; 

And  Crispin  Crispian  shall  ne'er  go  by 

From  this  day  to  the  ending  of  the  world 

But  we  in  it  shall  be  remembered. 

We  few,  we  happy  few,  we  band  of  brothers! 

For  he  to-day  that  sheds  his  blood  with  me 

Shall  be  my  brother!    be  he  ne'er  so  vile, 

This  day  shall  gentle  his  condition: 

And  gentlemen  in  England  now  a-bed 

Shall  think  themselves  accursed  they  were  not  here, 

And  hold  their  manhoods  cheap  while  any  speaks 

That  fought  with  us  upon  Saint  Crispin's  day!^* 

Did   the   ardor  of   military   honor,    the   passion   for 
military  fame  and  glory,  ever  rise  higher? 

There  were  circumstances  that  would  naturally 
predispose  young  Shakespeare  to  enter  the  army. 

He  was  about  twenty-one,  the  husband  of  a  lady 
who  had  rather  unkindly  permitted  him  to  marry 
her  when  he  was  eighteen  and  she  twenty-six, 
though  neither  had  sufficient  property  or  income  or 
remunerative  employment.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
man  who  had  apparently  failed  in  business,  and 
who,  as  many  are  convinced,  was  in  disfavor  at  that 
time   for  being   at   heart   like   his   father  a   Roman 

[128] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

Catholic,  or,  as  others  say,  suspected  and  accused 
of  obstinate  Puritan  recusancy,  or,  at  least,  as 
almost  every  one  admits,  was  under  a  cloud  in  the 
tightening  clutches  of  poverty.  If  the  young  man 
should  enlist,  he  might  reasonably  hope  that  his 
wife  and  infant  children,  perhaps  his  father  and 
mother,  would  be  taken  care  of." 

We  may  be  sure  too  that  like  Amyas  Leigh  in 
Kingsley's  Westward  Ho  he  felt  in  full  the  spirit 
of  adventure  which  burns  in  the  heart  of  every 
enterprising  youth. 

If,  like  Francis  Bacon,  he  has  "  taken  all  knowl- 
edge to  be  his  province,"  he  must  not  miss  this 
opportunity  "  to  see  the  world. "^^ 

We  can  hardly  imagine  him  utterly  destitute  of 
every  soldier's  ambition, 

"  That  last  infirmity  of  noble  mind," 

prompting  him  "  to  endure  hardness  as  a  good 
soldier," 

"  To  scorn  delights  and  live  laborious  days." 

In  the  army  he  might  also  fairly  hope  for  such 
acquaintance  and  recognition  as  bore  fruit  a  few 
years  later  in  the  princely  generosity  of  the  Earl  of 
Southampton.^'' 

Especially  would  he  be  desirous  to  meet  the 
literary  genius,  the  most  accomplished  of  gentle- 
men, nephew  of  Leicester,  Sir  Philip  Sidney;  and 
equally  perhaps  Sir  Philip  would  wish  to  know  the 

[129] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

brilliant  young  poet  of  Stratford.  Aubrey  tells  us, 
"  Sidney  was  of  a  very  munificent  spirit  and  liberal 
to  all  lovers  of  learning,  and  to  those  that  pre- 
tended to  any  acquaintance  with  Parnassus;  in- 
somuch that  he  was  cloyed  and  surfeited  with  the 
poetasters  of  those  days."  There  was  ten  years' 
difference  in  their  ages  and  it  might  well  be  a  case 
of  love  at  first  sight.  The  cold-blooded  Leicester, 
who  lived  only  a  dozen  miles  away,  would  at  least 
take  an  interest  in  the  chief  ornament  of  the 
company  of  players  called  by  his  name. 

From  several  sources  we  learn  that  Queen  Eliza- 
beth was  delighted  with  Shakespeare.  His  un- 
doubted loyalty  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  before 
her  death  would  be  an  inducement  to  serve  in  her 
armies.^^ 

There  is  little  if  any  doubt  that  the  actor, 
Thomas  Betterton,  the  dramatist,  Nicholas  Rowe, 
and  Archdeacon  Richard  Davies  are  truthful  in 
stating  that  Sir  Thomas  Lucy's  hostility  on  account 
of  the  deer  stealing  and  the  ballad  hastened  Wil- 
liam's departure  from  Stratford  to  London.-^  But 
Sir  Thomas  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  the 
young  poacher  might  not  be  safe  even  in  the  city. 
If  he  wished  to  put  some  distance  between  himself 
and  the  hostile  Puritan  knight,  what  safer  refuge 
than  to  go  to  fight  the  Spanish?  It  would  tend 
also  to  conciliate  the  zealous  Protestant,  and  very 
likely  prompt  him  to  deal  kindly  with  the  dear 
ones  left  at  home. 

[130] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

There  was  of  course  another  motive  which  may 
have  been  stronger  than  any  of  the  others, 
PATRIOTISM.     Was  Shakespeare  a  patriot? 

In  Coriolanus  he  makes  Cominius  say 

I  do  love 
My  country's  good  with  a  respect  more  tender, 
More  holy  and  profound  than  my  own  life.^*^ 

At  the  end  of  King  John,  Faulconbridge  exclaims  — 

This  England  never  did  nor  never  shall 
Lie  at  the  proud  foot  of  a  conqueror. 


Come  the  three  corners  of  the  world  in  arms. 

And  we  shall  shock  them!  Naught  shall  make  us  rue 

If  England  to  itself  do  rest  but  true.^^ 

And   listen    to    '  old   John   of   Gaunt,    time-honored 
Lancaster  '  — 

This  royal  throne  of  kings,  this  sceptred  isle, 
This  earth  of  majesty,  this  seat  of  Mars, 
This  other  Eden,  demi-paradise, 
This  fortress  built  by  Nature  for  herself 
Against  infection  and  the  hand  of  war  — 
This  happy  breed  of  men,  this  little  world,  — 
This  precious  stone  set  in  the  silver  sea  — 

This  blessed  plot,  this  earth,  this  realm,  this  England — 
This  land  of  such  dear  souls,  —  this  dear,  dear  land!^^ 

Surely  the  man  who  wrote  that  regarded   England 
with  an  almost  unspeakable  love. 

But    was    his    country    in    any    special    need    of 
soldiers?     Yes;     a    struggle    for    national    existence 

[131] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

had  long  been  foreseen,  and  the  crisis  was  im- 
minent. Spain  at  the  zenith  of  her  power  was 
pushing  with  energy  her  miHtary  operations  against 
her  revolted  subjects  in  Holland  and  Belgium. 
More  and  more  it  appeared  likely  that  England 
would  be  forced  into  the  conflict.  In  anticipation 
of  hostilities,  there  was  in  the  year  1583  a  general 
census  and  review  of  Englishmen  capable  of  ac- 
tively bearing  arms.  It  is  reasonable  to  believe 
that  our  William,  then  recently  married,  was 
counted  among  the  1,172,000  able-bodied.  If  old 
enough  to  be  married,  he  was  old  enough  to  fight! 
"  A  happy  marriage  is  a  suppressed  warfare,"  said 
Eliot,  historian  of  New  England  echoing  Lord 
Bacon,  to  me  at  his  dinner  table  fifty-four  years 
ago! 

We  have  good  evidence  that  he  was  of  the  proper 
physique.  At  the  age  of  twenty-eight  he  is  de- 
clared by  his  contemporary,  the  publisher  Henry 
Chettle,  to  be  an  excellent  actor.  When  he  was 
forty-six,  John  Davies  of  Hereford  in  his  Book 
entitled  '  Scourge  of  Folly  '  has  lines  addressed 
'  To  our  English  Terence,  Mr.  Will  Shakespeare,' 
in  which  he  declares, 

"  Hadst  thou  not  played  some  kingly  parts  in  sport, 
Thou  hadst  been  a  companion  for  a  king." 

Aubrey  is  more  specific:  he  tells  us  Shakespeare 
"  was  a  handsome  well-shaped  man."  His  earliest 
biographer,  Nicholas  Rowe,  tells  us  on  the  authority 

[132] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

of  the  famous  actor  Thomas  Betterton  that  Shake- 
speare acted  the  part  of  the  Ghost  in  his  own 
play  of  Hamlet,  that  "it  was  the  top  of  his  acting," 
and  that  "  he  did  act  exceeding  well."  Doubtless 
this  Ghost  was  one  of  those  '  kingly  parts,'  the  fac- 
simile of  the  elder  Hamlet,  King  of  Denmark,  a 
man  of  the  finest  proportions,  physically  perfect. 
Says  Horatio, 

I  saw  him  once;   he  was  a  goodly  king. 

'  Goodly  '   of  course   refers   to  external   appearance, 

equivalent    to    comely    and    of    good    size.     Hamlet 

replies. 

He  was  a  man;   take  him  for  all  in  all, 
I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again. 

Still  speaking  of  his  physical  perfections,  you  will 
recollect  Hamlet's  description  of  his  father  as  he 
gazes  upon  his  full-length  portrait  in  his  mother's 
chamber.  It  shows  unmistakably  how  Shakespeare 
looked,  if  he  personated  the  Ghost  as  genuine 
tradition  asserts  and  as  all  scholars  believe. 

See  what  a  grace  was  seated  on  this  brow! 
Hyperion's  curls,  the  front  of  Jove  himself, 
An  eye  like  Mars  to  threaten  and  command; 
A  station  like  the  herald  Mercury 
New-lighted  on  a  heaven-kissing  hill; 
A  combination  and  a  form  indeed 
Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man^P 

We  do  not  then  doubt  that  he  was  of  good  phy- 
sique.    Being  such,  he  would  naturally  be  enrolled 

[133] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

at  the  age  of  nineteen  among  the  one  million 
one  hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand  fit  for 
military  service. 

Next  year  (1584)  the  illustrious  Founder  of  the 
Dutch  Republic,  '  The  Washington  of  Holland,' 
William  of  Orange,  '  William  the  Silent,"  perished 
by  the  hand  of  an  assassin.  The  outlook  for 
liberty  and  independence  on  the  continent  and  for 
the  safety  of  England  was  growing  very  dark. 
With  the  subjugation  of  the  low  countries,  the 
last  barrier  against  the  overwhelming  advance  of 
the  Spanish  would  seem  to  be  swept  away,  and 
England  would  apparently  lie  at  the  mercy  of  the 
foe. 

Fifteen  eighty-five  came  and  in  August  the 
splendid  city  of  Antwerp  fell.  Elizabeth  at  last 
reluctantly  yielded  to  the  advice  of  the  illustrious 
Walsingham  and  other  statesmen  and  to  the  urgent 
entreaties  of  the  Dutch  envoys,  and  determined, 
none  too  soon,  to  strike  a  blow,  lest  the  destruction 
that  impended  over  the  Netherlands  should  in- 
volve England  also. 

In  September  she  appointed  her  favorite,  the 
Earl  of  Leicester,  commander-in-chief.  Early  in 
November  she  dispatched  Sir  Philip  Sidney  with 
troops.  He  was  eager  for  active  service.  Leicester 
was  not.  The  great  Lord  of  Kenilworth,  whom 
many  had  thought  likely  to  become  king,  or  at 
least  husband  to  the  queen,  if  Lady  Leicester 
would   but  step  down  and  out,   must  go  in   pomp 

[134] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

with  a  loud  flourish  of  trumpets.  He  invited  a 
multitude  of  his  chents  and  retainers  to  accompany 
him  as  a  guard  of  honor.  A  large  and  splendid 
retinue,  some  five  hundred  in  number,  mostly  from 
central  England,  responded.^*  Several  among  them 
were  probably  young  Shakespeare's  friends,  neigh- 
bors, or  even  relatives;  certainly  his  fellow  actors 
or  authors.  We  have,  it  has  been  supposed,  a 
recollection  of  Leicester's  pompous  embarkation  in 
the  Chorus  in  Act  III  of  King  Henry  V  — 

Suppose  that  you  have  seen 
The  well-appointed  king  at  Hampton  pier 
Embark  his  royalty,  and  his  brave  fleet 

A  city  on  the  inconstant  billows  dancing. 

Follow,      follow! 

And  leave  your  England 

Guarded  with  grandsires,  babies  and  old  women. 

For  who  is  he  whose  chin  is  but  enriched 
With  one  appearing  hair,  that  will  not  follow 
These  culled  and  choice-drawn  cavaliers  to  France? 

When,  to  all  other  incitements  were  added  the 
inspiration  of  such  a  scene  and  the  sense  of  com- 
radeship with  enthusiastic  thousands  rallying  around 
the  red-cross  flag  of  Saint  George,  who  can  doubt 
that  William  Shakespeare,  perhaps  already  en- 
listed, would  gladly  join  the  splendid  battalions 
moving  to  martial  music  '  on  to  the  field  of  Glory?  ' 
What  would  he  think  of  the  invertebrate  stay- 
at-home  gentleman,  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes's  '  sweet 

[135] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

little  man,'  like  the  parasite  Osric  in  Hamlet, 
whom  our  fathers  would  have  termed  a  '  dandy  ' 
and  our  sons  a  '  dude.'  By  no  stretch  of  imagina- 
tion can  we  fancy  our  hero  such  a  milksop  as  is 
described  in  one  of  the  last  stanzas  of  Robert 
Browning  — 

"  What  had  I  on  earth  to  do 
With  the  slothful,  with  the  mawkish,  the  unmanly? 
With  the  aimless,  helpless,  hopeless,  did  I  drivel? 
Being  who?  " 

Rather  must  our  beloved  dramatist  have  been  like 
Browning  himself, 

'  One  who  never  turned  his  back,  but  marched  breast  forward, 
Never  doubted  clouds  would  break; 
Never  dreamed,   though   right   were   worsted,    wrong  would 

triumph; 
Held  we  fall  to  rise,  are  bafifled  to  fight  better, 
Sleep  to  wake!  "^^ 

Here  we  are  not  left  to  conjecture.  Hotspur  had 
fought  against  the  Scots,  captured  a  goodly  num- 
ber of  them,  and  refused  to  deliver  them  up  to 
King  Henry.  The  monarch  calls  him  sharply  to 
account  for  this  disobedience.  Hotspur  prudently 
apologizes  — 

My  liege,  I  did  deny  no  prisoners: 
But  I  remember,  when  the  fight  was  done, 
When  I  was  dry  with  rage  and  extreme  toil. 
Came  there  a  certain  lord,  neat,  trimly  dressed, 
Fresh  as  a  bridegroom;   and  his  chin  new  reaped 
Showed  like  a  stubble-land  at  harvest  home. 
He  was  perfumed  like  a  milliner, 

[136] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

And  twixt  his  finger  and  his  thumb  he  held 

A  pouncet-box,  which  ever  and  anon 

He  gave  his  nose  and  took  't  away  again; 

Who  therewith  angry,  when  it  next  came  there. 

Took  it  in  snuff!    and  still  he  smiled  and  talked, 

And  as  the  soldiers  bore  dead  bodies  by, 

He  called  them  untaught  knaves,  unmannerly, 

To  bring  a  slovenly  unhandsome  corse 

Betwixt  the  wind  and  his  nobility! 

With  many  holiday  and  lady  terms 

He  questioned  me,  among  the  rest,  demanded 

My  prisoners  in  your  majesty's  behalf. 

I  then,  all  smarting  with  my  wounds  being  cold, 

To  be  so  pestered  with  a  popinjay. 

Out  of  my  grief  and  my  impatience, 

Answered  neglectingly  I  know  not  what,  — 

He  should  or  he  should  not;   for  he  made  me  mad 

To  see  him  shine  so  brisk  and  smell  so  sweet. 

And  talk  so  like  a  waiting-gentlewoman 

Of  guns  and  drums  and  wounds  —  God  save  the  mark- 

And  telling  me  the  sovereign'st  thing  on  earth 

Was  parmaceti  for  an  inward  bruise! 

And  that  it  was  great  pity,  so  it  was. 

This  villainous  salt-petre  should  be  digged 

Out  of  the  bowels  of  the  harmless  earth, 

Which  many  a  good  tall  fellow  had  destroyed 

So  cowardly;   and  but  for  these  vile  guns 

He  would  himself  have  been  a  soldier!^^ 


We  come  now  to  a  remarkable  coincidence.  To 
fix  the  time,  let  us  premise  that  Shakespeare's 
twins,  Hamnet  and  Judith,  as  shown  by  the  parish 
register,  were  christened  February  2d,  1585.  The 
father  would  naturally  be  present  at  the  ceremony. 


[137] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

From  this  time  for  several  years  he  is  lost  to  view, 
except  for  the  possible  reappearance  which  we  are 
about  to  state. 

Sir  Philip  Sidney  arrived  in  Holland  November 
tenth,  1585;  Leicester  a  few  weeks  later.  On  the 
twenty-fourth  of  March,  1586,  having  been  cam- 
paigning in  Holland  four  and  a  half  months,  Sidney 
writes  from  Utrecht  a  letter  to  his  father-in-law, 
Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  in  which  occurs  this 
passage :  — 

"  I  wrote  to  you  a  letter  by  Will,  my  Lord  of 
Leicester's  jesting  player,  enclosed  in  a  letter  to  my 
wife,  and  I  never  had  answer  thereof.  It  contained 
something  to  my  Lord  of  Leicester  and  Council,  that 
some  way  might  be  taken  to  stay  my  lady  there.  I 
since,  divers  times,  have  written  to  know  whether  you 
had  received  them;  but  you  never  answered  me  on 
that  point.  I  since  find  that  the  knave  delivered  the 
letters  to  my  lady  of  Leicester,  but  whether  she  sent 
them  to  you  or  no,  I  know  not,  but  earnestly  desire 
to  do;  because  I  doubt  there  is  more  interpreted 
thereof."" 

From  this  we  naturally  infer  that  before  Leicester 
left  England  in  December,  1585,  Sir  Philip  em- 
ployed one  '  Will  '  as  amanuensis  to  write  to 
Walsingham;  that  this  letter,  so  dictated,  con- 
tained a  message  to  Leicester  and  the  Council,  in 
which  there  was  an  expression  of  Sir  Philip's  de- 
sire that  his  wife  should  be  made  to  stay  in  Eng- 
land; furthermore,  the  Walsingham  letter  and  the 
message  it  contained   were  enclosed   in   a  personal 

[138] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

letter  from  Sir  Philip  to  his  wife:  but  these  two 
letters  and  the  accompanying  message  were  de- 
livered by  '  Will,'  not  to  Sidney's  wife,  nor  to  her 
father  Walsingham,  nor  even  to  the  Earl,  but  to 
my  Lady  of  Leicester!  and  Sidney  has  repeatedly 
tried  in  vain  to  find  out  whether  the  Countess  ever 
delivered  them  to  any  one,  or  whether  the  wife, 
father,  or  Earl  ever  received  them. 

Sir  Philip  appears  suspicious  of  double-dealing. 
Evidently  he  doesn't  believe  the  letters  reached 
their  destination.  Lady  Leicester  probably  wished 
to  come  over  to  Holland  with  a  goodly  number  of 
ladies  of  the  nobility  and  gentry.  Sir  Philip's 
remonstrance  was  unheard  or  unheeded.  Notwith- 
standing his  opposition  and  Queen  Elizabeth's 
disapprobation,  the  ladies  must  see  the  holiday 
festivities  over  in   Holland,   and   the 

Pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war! 

Even  Sir  Philip's  wife  came  over  at  last! 

Now  the  question  is,  Who  was  the  amanuensis 
'Will,'  'my  Lord  of  Leicester's  jesting  player'? 
It  has  been  quite  commonly  assumed  that  he  was 
William  Kemp.  To  this  supposition  there  are 
several  objections  which  seem  decisive. 

Kemp  is  not  mentioned  as  a  theatrical  player 
till  six  or  seven  years  after  Sidney's  death.  His 
name  first  appears  in  1593  in  a  list  of  six  members 
of  Lord  Strange's  Company.  In  1594  he  acted  the 
part    of    Dogberry    in    Much    Ado    About    Nothing. 

[139] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

In  1612,  twenty-six  years  after  Sidney's  death,  the 
learned  Thomas  Heywood  tells  us  that  in  Septem- 
ber, 1588,  Kemp  succeeded  to  the  place  on  the  stage 
made  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  celebrated  Richard 
Tarleton,  as  dancer,  vaulter,  tumbler,  and  clown.'^ 
In  1600,  fourteen  years  after  Sidney's  death,  Kemp 
says  of  himself,  "  I  have  spent  my  life  in  mad 
jigges  and  merry  jestes."  In  1589  the  author  of 
a  book  entitled  An  Almond  for  a  Parrat  dedicates 
it  as  follows:  To  that  most  Comical  and  Con- 
ceited Cavaliero,  Monsieur  de  Kempe,  jestmonger 
and  Vice-Regent-Generall  to  the  Ghost  of  Dicke 
Tarlton.  At  this  date,  three  years  after  the  death 
of  Sir  Philip,  he  and  his  associates  were  engaged  in 
their  favorite  occupation  of  ridiculing  the  Puritans. 
Now  if  anything  could  disgust  Sir  Philip  Sidney, 
it  would  be  just  such  business  as  gave  Kemp  his 
popularity.  From  his  earliest  youth  his  remarkable 
gravity,  his  puritanic  seriousness,  his  lofty  ideals, 
are  commented  upon  by  all  his  biographers.  Espe- 
cially at  this  crisis,  when  the  life  of  the  new-born 
Dutch  Republic  and  the  safety  of  England  were 
in  imminent  peril,  he  would  say  of  Kemp  as  the 
intense  Hamlet  says  of  the  shallow  Polonius, 
"  He  *s  for  a  jig  or  a  tale  of  bawdry."  Leicester 
might  have  brought  over  this  jumplng-jack  to 
please  himself  or  the  ladies;  but  Sir  Philip  never 
would  have  tolerated  him.  Like  the  sober  Brutus 
in  Julius  CcEsar  he  would  ask, 

"  What  should  the  wars  do  with  these  jigging  fools?"^* 

[140] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

It  nowhere  appears  that  Kemp  was  ever  in  the 
army  or  in  the  Netherlands  at  all.  He  did  not 
rise  to  the  dignity  of  a  comic  play-actor  till  seven 
years  after  Sidney's  death. 

Then  as  to  the  name  of  "  my  Lord  of  Leicester's 
jesting  player  "  —  Kemp  was  never  called  simply 
*  Will.'  Of  course  it  was  convenient  to  abbreviate 
the  names  Benjamin  Jonson,  Richard  Burbage, 
and  Christopher  Marlowe,  into  Ben,  Dick,  and  Kit, 
and  their  cronies  always  did  so.  But  the  name 
'  Kemp  '  was  short  enough  already.  He  was  often 
designated  as  Will  Kemp,  oftener  still  as  Kemp;  never 
in   his  day,   so  far  as  we  can  learn,  merely  '  Will.' 

On  the  contrary,  William  Shakespeare  was  uni- 
versally known  as  '  Will.'  He  is  himself  pleased 
with  the  pet  sobriquet.  In  his  135th  and  136th 
sonnets  he  insists  on  being  so  called.  In  them  he 
uses  the  word  twenty  times,  ten  of  them  being 
clear  instances  of  paronomasia.  The  136th  ends 
with  this  couplet: 

Make  but  my  name  my  love,  and  love  that  still, 
And  then  thou  lov'st  me;  for  my  name  is  Will! 

Six  years  before  Shakespeare's  death  John  Davies 
of  Hereford,  in  his  book  entitled  '  The  Scourge  of 
Folly,'  has  lines  addressed  '  To  our  English  Ter- 
ence, Mr.  W^ill:    Shakespeare',  as  follows: 

"  Some  say,  good  Will,  which  I  in  sport  do  sing, 
Hadst  thou  not  played  some  kingly  parts  in  sport. 
Thou  hadst  been  a  companion  for  a  king. 
And  been  a  king  among  the  meaner  sort." 

[141] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Nineteen  years  after  Shakespeare's  death,  he  was 
still  known  by  his  accepted  name  Will.  Thus 
Thomas  Heywood  in  his  *  Hierarchy  of  the  Blessed 
Angels'  (1635),  uses  this  language: 

"  Mellifluous  Shakespeare,  whose  enchanting  quill 
Commanded  mirth  or  passion,  was  but  '  Will '  " 

That  Will  had  been  for  several  years  a  play- 
actor when  Sidney  wrote  the  Walsingham  letter, 
it  is  reasonable  to  believe.  "  It  is  fair  to  infer," 
says  Sidney  Lee,  "  that  it  was  Leicester's  company 
that  Shakespeare  originally  joined  and  adhered  to 
through  life."     All  the  biographers  concur  in  this. 

"  My  Lord  of  Leicester's  jesting  player."  Proba- 
bly no  opprobrium  attaches  to  the  word  '  jesting.' 
Hamlet  says  admiringly  of  Yorick,  "  He  was  a 
fellow  of  infinite  jest,  of  most  excellent  fancy." 
It  is  recorded  in  praise  of  Lord  Bacon  that  he  was 
'  a  most  delightful  companion  .  .  .  bringing  out 
with  great  effect  his  unexhausted  stores  of  jests 
new  and  old.'  Ben  Jonson  tells  us  that  Bacon's 
speech,  "  When  he  could  spare  or  pass  by  a  jest, 
was  nobly  censorious."  Sidney  had  probably  heard 
of  the  smart  squib  on  Sir  Thomas  Lucy  with  its 
atrocious  puns.  "  The  worst  puns  are  the  best," 
says  Charles  Lamb.  Shakespeare  is  perhaps  the 
greatest  punster  in  our  language.  Dr.  Sam. 
Johnson  and  other  solemn  critics  blame  him  for 
his  frequent  quibbling  plays  upon  words. 

In  the  period  under  consideration  he  had  proba- 

[142] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

bly  engaged  in  comedy  chiefly  or  only.  When  we 
read  what  many  think  his  earHest,  Love's  Labor  s 
Lost,  we  say  with  Schlegel,  "  It  is  a  humorsome 
display  of  frolic;  a  whole  cornucopia  of  the  most 
vivacious  jokes  .  .  .  unbroken  succession  of  plays 
on  words  .  .  .  sallies  of  every  description  .  .  . 
Sparkles  of  wit  fly  about  in  such  profusion  that  they 
resemble  a  blaze  of  fireworks."  To  the  same  effect, 
Charles  Cowden-Clarke  —  "  There  is  an  exuberance, 
an  extravagance  in  Shakespeare's  fun  which  is 
infectious.  We  laugh  in  spite  of  ourselves,  stung 
by  that  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  which  has 
evidently  smitten  and  inspired  the  writer.  W'e 
feel  in  reading  Shakespeare's  drollery  that  he  him- 
self had  a  relish  for  it;  that  he  enjoyed  a  frolic 
of  words;  that  he  loved  a  bout  of  jesting;  that 
he  reveled  in  a  spell  of  waggery  and  nonsense. "'*° 

As  to  his  conversation  we  may  safely  believe  in 
the  truth  of  Aubrey's  well-authenticated  tradition 
that  he  was  '  very  good  company,  and  of  a  very 
ready  and  pleasant  smooth  wit.'  Aubrey  quotes 
in  illustration  the  '  extemporary  epitaph  '  on  the 
old  usurer  'John  O'  Combe';  tells  of  his  his- 
trionic mock  heroics  in  boyhood;  and  adds,  "  I 
have  heard  Sir  Wm.  Davenant  and  Mr.  Thomas 
Shadwell,  who  is  accounted  the  best  comedian  that 
we  have  now,  say  that  he  had  a  most  prodigious 
Wit."  But  here  the  word  *  wit  '  includes  far  more 
than  the  power  of  giving  sudden  intellectual 
pleasure. 

[143] 


Sttidies  in  Shakespeare 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  it  is  easy  to 
imagine  the  circumstances  under  which  Sidney 
wrote  to  his  wife,  to  her  father,  and  to  Leicester. 
He  had  arrived  as  Governor  of  Flushing  the  second 
week  in  November.  The  briefest  observation  con- 
firmed his  conviction  that  this  was  no  time  nor 
place  for  lady  visitors.  Winter  and  the  Spaniards 
are  coming.  He  protests  against  the  feminine 
invasion. 

Young  Shakespeare,  between  whom  and  Sidney 
there  would  naturally  be  attraction  and  mutual 
confidence,  had  probably  come  from  England  with 
him.  No  soldier  detailed  as  clerk  at  headquarters 
could  be  more  useful.  Sidney  learns  that  Will  has 
a  wife  and  three  infant  children  at  Stratford,  and 
is  therefore  trustworthy;  that  his  home  is  in  Strat- 
ford a  dozen  miles  from  Leicester's  lordly  castle 
of  Kenilworth;  and  he  would  be  glad  to  revisit 
his  family,  his  father  and  mother,  his  sister,  his 
brothers  and  friends.  Sidney  knows  that  the  Earl 
is  soon  to  embark  for  the  seat  of  war.  He  loses 
no  time:  Lady  Sidney  at  least  must  not  come. 
He  employs  Will  to  write  a  formal  communication 
to  the  Earl  and  the  Privy  Council,  and  immediately 
sends  him  home  to  Warwickshire  bearing  the  three- 
fold protest.  Innocently  enough  Will  delivers  the 
precious  epistles  'to  my  Lady  of  Leicester!  '  She 
knows  how  to  take  care  of  theml 

"  I  find  the  knave  delivered  the  letters,"  writes 
Sidney.     The  word   '  knave  '  has  no  disparagement 

[144] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

in  it.  Often,  as  repeatedly  in  Shakespeare,  it 
signifies  boy,  servant,  or  stripling.  Sidney,  ten 
years  Will's  senior,  might  even  make  it  a  term  of 
endearment,  as  Brutus  does.*^  Will  would  naturally 
return  in  Leicester's  train,  if  not  earlier,  and  report 
to  Sir  Philip. 

Very  likely  he  remained  in  the  service  for  years. 
This  would  account  for  his  silence  from  1585  till 
1592;  for  he  was  too  modest  to  speak  of  his  own 
deeds.  We  are  left  to  imagine;  but  we  cannot  for 
a  moment  doubt  his  exaltation  of  soul,  when  in  a 
just  cause  he  beheld  the  splendid  display  of  seem- 
ingly irresistible  force;  infantry  advancing  in  succes- 
sive waves  foam-tipped  with  flags,  or  densely 
massed  steadily  moving  flanked  with  thundering 
artillery;  and  cavalry  in  shining  armor  swiftly 
plunging  past. 

"  There  is  something  of  pride  in  the  perilous  hour, 
Whate'er  be  the  shape  in  which  death  may  lower; 
For  Fame  is  there  to  say  who  bleeds, 
And  Honor's  eye  is  on  daring  deeds." 

He  could  keenly  appreciate  the  contrast  as  in 
Othello's  heartbreak  — 

Farewell  the  plumed  troops,  and  the  big  wars 
That  make  ambition  virtue!     O  farewell! 
Farewell  the  neighing  steed  and  the  shrill  trump. 
The  spirit-stirring  drum,  the  ear-piercing  fife. 
The  royal  banner,  and  all  quality, 
Pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war! 

[145] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

And  0,  you  mortal  engines,  whose  rude  throats 
The  immortal  Jove's  dread  clamors  counterfeit, 
Farewell!  —  Othello's  occupation  's  gone!^ 


We  have  spoken  of  the  emergency  that  called 
for  soldiers  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1585.  Three 
years  later  there  was  another,  still  more  impera- 
tive; a  crisis  which  stirred  England  as  perhaps  it 
never  was  stirred  before  or  since.  The  ambitious 
Spanish  monarch,  Philip  the  Second,  lord  of 
dominions  on  which  the  sun  never  set,  emboldened 
by  the  conquest  of  Portugal,  the  acquisition  of  the 
East  Indies,  and  the  yearly  receipt  of  vast  treasures 
from  North  and  South  America,  determined  to  sub- 
due England,  make  it  a  province  of  Spain,  and  from 
it  as  a  standpoint  and  base  of  operations  crush 
liberty  and  independence  and  make  himself  master 
of  Europe  and  the  civilized  world.  The  hour 
seemed  opportune.  Immense  preparations  had  been 
going  on  for  years.  The  '  Invincible  Armada,'  the 
most  powerful  fleet  that  had  ever  floated,  clouded 
all  the  southern  sky,  and  was  ready  to  pour  on 
England  its  iron  hail  and  thunder  fire.  Great 
galleons,  ships  larger  than  Britons  had  ever  seen, 
from  Italy,  Sicily,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  were  swarm- 
ing toward  the  English  Channel.  Troops  from 
those  nations  and  from  other  portions  of  Europe 
swelled  the  ranks  of  the  vast  invading  army  on  the 
other  shore  under  the  most  skilful  general  of  the 
age,    the    veteran    Duke    of    Parma.     All    England, 

[146] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

Catholic  and  Protestant  alike,  armed  and  drilled. 
For  fame,  home,  country,  civilization,  no  sacrifice 
seemed  too  great. 

To  these  incentives  was  added  a  more  intense 
personal  loyalty.  If  the  queen  had  done  nothing 
else  to  earn  the  name  '  Great  Elizabeth,'  her  ap- 
parent conduct  at  this  crisis  would  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  common  people  have  been  enough. 
She  puts  herself  at  the  head  of  her  principal  army. 
At  West  Tilbury,  near  where  the  invaders  may  be 
expected  to  attempt  a  landing,  she  rides  on  horse- 
back through  the  lines  and  thus  addresses  them:  — 

"  I  have  always  so  behaved  myself  that,  under 
God,  I  have  placed  my  chiefest  strength  and  safe- 
guard in  the  loyal  hearts  and  good  will  of  my  sub- 
jects; and  therefore  I  am  come  among  you  at  this 
time,  not  as  for  my  recreation  or  sport,  but  being  re- 
solved in  the  midst  and  heat  of  the  battle  to  live  or 
die  amongst  you  all;  to  lay  down  for  my  God  and  for 
my  kingdom  and  my  people  my  honor  and  my  blood 
even  in  the  dust.  I  know  I  have  but  the  body  of  a 
weak  and  feeble  woman;  but  I  have  the  heart  of  a 
king,  and  a  king  of  England  too;  and  think  foul 
scorn  that  Parma  or  Spain  or  any  prince  of  Europe 
should  dare  to  invade  the  borders  of  my  realm!  "*^ 

Where  was  William  Shakespeare  at  this  time? 
They  tell  us  he  was  probably  in  a  London  theatre, 
acting  third-rate  parts  in  third-rate  plays.  Do  not 
believe  it.  They  tell  us  he  was  so  great  a  man 
that  he  was  sublimely  indifferent  to  the  fate  of 
nations,    religions,    and    civilizations.     Do    not    be- 

[147] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

lieve  it.  Prominent  critics  like  Richard  Grant 
White  and  James  Russell  Lowell  tell  us  that  "  he 
wrote  without  any  moral  intention,"  and  that  it  is 
'  his  highest  praise  '  that  "  he  carries  his  persons 
indifferently  through  right  and  wrong,  .  .  .  and 
leaves  their  example  to  operate  by  chance."  This 
may  be  measurably  true  of  his  drama;  but  when 
they  add  the  strange  assertion  that  "  he  was  simply 
observer  and  artist,  and  was  incapable  of  partisan- 
ship," do  not  believe  it.  What  right  has  a  great 
man  or  a  small  man  to  shirk  and  slink  and  shut 
his  eyes  and  seal  his  lips  and  fold  his  hands,  when 
the  life  of  his  country  is  trembling  in  the  balance? 
"  Incapable  of  partisanship  "  in  a  day  like  that? 
Give  us  men  that  are  capable  of  partisanship,  of 
enthusiasm,  of  fanaticism  even.  "  Simply  observer 
and  artist  "?  Oh  for  an  hour  of  old  Athenian 
^schylus,  who  did  not  forget  that  he  was  a  man 
of  muscle  as  well  as  mind,  a  citizen  as  well  as  a 
dramatist,  and  whose  epitaph  composed  by  himself 
reads, 

"  Athenian  iCschylus,  Euphorion's  son, 
Buried  in  Gela's  fields,  tliese  words  declare. 
His  deeds  are  registered  at  Marathon, 
Known  to  the  deep-haired  Mede  who  met  him  there!  " 

Give  us  a  Joseph  Warren,  who  on  the  eve  of 
Bunker  Hill,  as  he  kisses  '  Good-bye  '  to  wife  and 
child,  exclaims,  and  next  day  proves  it  true,  "  It 
is  sweet  and  beautiful  to  die  for  one's  country!  "  — 
a  James  Lawrence,  who  knowing  with  Sir  Humph- 

[  148  ] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

rey  Gilbert  and  the  Martyrs  of  river  and  sea  that 
"  Heaven  is  as  near  by  water  as  by  land,"  won't 
give  up  the  ship!  —  Leonidas  and  his  three  hun- 
dred, who  would  rather  be  dead  in  Thermopylae 
than  alive  in  retreat  —  a  heart  as  well  as  a  brain, 
a  backbone  as  well  as  a  tongue  —  if  it  must  be, 
a  hand  that  can  wield  a  pike  as  well  as  a  pen  — 
a  heart  that  is  flesh,  not  ice;  vertabrse  that  are 
bone,  not  rubber;  an  arm  that  can  strike  quicker, 
surer,  heavier  blows  for  God  than  others  can  for 
the  devil;  a  brain  that  to  illume  the  dark  and 
smite  the  wrong  can  condense  the  light  of  truth 
into  lightning;  a  self-devotion  whose  death,  like 
the  last  sparkle  of  a  spent  rocket,  may  indeed  be 
followed  by  a  momentary  gloom,  but  whose  life 
shall  shine  in  memory  as  the  stars  forever! 


[149] 


NOTES   IN   STUDY   III 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

1  Mrs.  Cecil  Frances  (Humphreys)  Alexander,  wife  of  William  Alexander 
'  Archbishop  of  Armagh  and  Primate  after  1896,'  was  the  author  of  the 
hymn  beginning  "  There  is  a  green  hill  far  away";  also  of  "  Jesus  calls  us 
o'er  the  tumult,"  etc. 

t  Exodus  XV,  8-11. 

'"The  Muse  dearly  loved  the  tuneful  bard  (Demodocus),  but  she  gave 
him  both  good  and  ill;  she  indeed  deprived  him  of  sight,  but  she  gave 
him  sweet  song."  —  Odyssey  viii,  63,  64. 

"  The  gods  bestow  not  equally  on  all 
The  gifts  that  men  desire,  the  grace  of  form. 
The  mind,  the  eloquence.     One  man  to  sight 
Is  undistinguished,  but  on  him  the  gods 
Bestow  the  power  of  words.     All  look  on  him 
Gladly:  he  knows  whereof  he  speaks:  his  speech 
Is  mild  and  modest:   he  is  eminent 
In  all  assemblies;   and,  whene'er  he  walks 
The  city  men  regard  him  as  a  god. 
Another  in  the  form  he  wears  is  like 
The  immortals,  yet  he  has  no  power  to  speak 
Becoming  words.     So  thou  hast  comely  looks  — 
A  god  would  not  have  shaped  thee  otherwise 
Than  we  behold  thee  —  yet  thy  wit  is  small." 

Odyssey  vni,  167-177  (Bryant's  Translation). 

So  in  some  way  the  favorite  of  the  Muses  pays  penalty  for  their  love; 
deaf  like  Beethoven;  or  lame  like  Byron  and  Scott;  or  consumptive  like 
Virgil,  Mozart.  Keats,  Lanier,  and  Stevenson;  or  blind  like  Homer,  Milton, 
ancient  Thamyris, 

"  And  Tiresias  and  Phineus,  prophets  old," 

and  our  Prescott  and  Fanny  Crosby;  or  exiled  like  Ovid,  Seneca,  Dante, 
Locke,  and  Boyle  O'Reilly;  or  insane  like  Lucretius,  Swift,  Cowper,  Collins 
and  Delia  Bacon;    or  poverty-stricken  like  Spenser,  Butler,  Dryden,  Burns, 


[151] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


Otway,  Hood,  Chatterton,  and  Francis  Thompson;  or  unhappily  married 
like  Euripides,  Socrates,  Montaigne,  Hooker,  Bacon,  MoliSre,  Addison, 
Shelley,  Landor,  Dickens,  and  Sumner;  or  unhappily  unmarried  like 
Horace,  Voltaire,  Pope,  Gray,  Goldsmith,  Lamb,  Macaulay,  Fitz  Greene 
Halleck,  Walt  Whitman,  Joaquin  Miller  and  Phillips  Brooksl 

« Sophocles  too  was  a  soldier.     So  Pericles,  Thucydides,  and  Xenophon. 

6  The  danger  lies  in  extreme  specialization.  "  I  devothes  my  whole 
mind  to  it,"  was  the  explanation  given  by  one  of  the  leaders  of  '  the  Four 
Hundred  '  in  New  York   City,  accounting   for  his  much-admired  mustache. 

6  He  may  have  been  with  one  of  those  old  '  sea-kings  '  who  loved  above 
all  things  'to  singe  the  king  of  Spain's  beard!'  —  Sir  Francis  Drake, 
Thomas  Cavendish,  Sir  John  Hawkins,  Sir  Martin  Frobisher,  Admiral  Lord 
Charles  Howard,  or  '  the  Shepherd  of  the  Ocean,'  Sir  Walter  Raleigh. 

As  to  his  knowledge  of  navigation,  see  notes  to  Sprague's  edition  of 
The  Tempest,  Act  \,  sc.  i,  page  30;  also  quotations  from  the  second  Lord 
Mulgrave  (1740-1792)  in  the  notes  to  Furness's  Variorum  ed.  of  The 
Tempest,  Act.  I,  sc.  i.  See  also  note  on  The  Tempest  V,  i,  223,  p.  125, 
Sprague's  ed. 

'  There  is  an  old  Spanish  proverb,  "  Every  man  at  forty  is  either  a  physi- 
cian or  a  fool." 

'  Shakespeare's  knowledge  of  hippology  is  perhaps  best  shown  in  his 
Venus  and  Adonis,  lines  295-300. 

All  the  horse  worshipers,  from  Richard  III  of  England  to  Richard  Croker 
of  Tammany  Hall,  and  all  the  horse  traders  from  MoseS  Primrose  to  David 
Harum,  may  claim  him  as  of  the  equine  cult;  but  the  most  enthusiastic 
devotee  was  perhaps  the  Rev.  W.  H.  H.  Murray,  whose  '  Camp  Life  in 
the  Adirondacks  '  gave  him  his  popular  sobriquet.  To  his  interesting  book 
entitled  '  The  Perfect  Horse,'  Henry  Ward  Beecher  wrote  an  introduction 
saying  that  "  although  the  horse  is  a  rather  remote  department  of  theology," 
yet  he  was  glad  to  gratify  his  friend  '  Adirondack  Murray  'I 

» See  in  this  '  Study  '  {post)  the  quoted  postscript  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney's 
letter  to  his  father-in-law.  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  and  our  comments 
thereon. 

"For  once  we  deviate  from  our  rule  and  explain  'tickle  o'  the  sere.' 
The  phrase  points  to  a  delicate  piece  of  mechanism  which,  to  a  non- 
military  man,  is  involved  in  obscurity.  The  attempts  by  civilians  to 
elucidate  it,  as  may  be  seen  in  their  editorial  comments,  have  been  numer- 
ous, ingenious,  and  funny.  It  was  first  made  clear  by  Dr.  Nicholson  in 
'  Notes  and  Queries,'  July  22,  1871. 

"  The  sere  (or,  as  it  is  often  spelled,  sear,  or  scear)  of  a  gun-lock  is  the 
bar  or  balance  lever  interposed  between  the  trigger  on  the  one  side  and 


[152] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

the  tumbler  or  other  mechanism  on  the  other,  and  is  so  called  from  its 
acting  the  part  of  a  serre  or  talon  in  gripping  the  mechanism  and  preventing 
its  action.  It  is  in  fact  a  paul  or  stop-catch.  When  the  trigger  is  made 
to  act  on  one  end  of  it,  the  other  end  releases  the  tumbler,  the  mainspring 
acts,  and  the  hammer,  flint,  or  match  falls.  .  .  .  Now  if  the  lock  be  so 
made  of  purpose,  or  be  worn,  or  be  faulty  in  construction,  this  sear  or 
grip  may  be  so  tickle  or  ticklish  in  its  adjustment  that  a  slight  touch  or 
jar  may  displace  it,  and  then  of  course  the  gun  goes  off.  Hence  '  light  ' 
(or  'tickle')  'of  the  sere'  (equivalent  to  like  a  hair-trigger),  applied 
metaphorically,  means  that  which  can  be  started  into  action  at  a  mere 
touch,  or  on  the  slightest  provocation,  or  on  what  ought  to  be  no  provo- 
cation at  all." 

During  '  the  war  between  the  States '  (1861-1865)  some  of  us  Union 
officers  were  careful  to  understand  this  nice  mechanical  structure. 

For  the  etymology  of  "  tickle  "  and  "  sere  "  see  notes  to  Hamlet,  II,  ii. 
318,  Sprague's  ed.  It  hardly  needs  to  be  emphasized  that,  some  three 
hundred  years  ago  as  now,  the  word  "  tickle  "  conveyed  the  idea  of 
incitement  to  laughter.  See  Merchant  of  Venice,  III,  i,  51,  and  the  kindred 
passage  in  The  Tempest,  II,  i,  169-171,  Sprague's  ed. 

i^  Richard  II,  IV,  i,  92-100. 

12  i   Henry  IV,  II,  iii,  43-51. 

"  Act  I,  sc.  iv,  82-88.  —  "  Swears  a  prayer  or  two!  "  Could  anything  be 
truer  to  the  life?  To  the  characteristics  referred  to  in  As  You  Like  It 
(II,  vii,  147-153)  that  mark  the  soldier  in  the  field  —  beard  untrimmed, 
sensitiveness  to  a  sort  of  '  honor,"  quickness  to  quarrel,  eagerness  for  dis- 
tinction —  the  dramatist  adds  as  first  of  all  that  he  is  '  full  of  strange 
oaths,'  a  failing  more  nearly  universal  than  deep  drinking  even.  We  never 
heard  so  much  profanity  in  an  equal  space  of  time  as  in  our  first  battle  in 
Louisiana,  and  the  most  pious  seemed  to  swear  loudest  and  fastest!  "  Lest 
we  forget  "  that  "  War  is  hell!  " 

"  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  I,  iii,  8-10. 

•5  As    You  Like  It,  II,  vii,  147-153.     See  notes  in  Sprague's  ed. 

Pretty  surely,  among  his  soldier  experiences  and  very  likely  before  or 
after  them,  he  saw  such  scenes  as  Falstaff's  examination  of  the  recruits  Mouldy, 
Wart,  Shadow,  Feeble,  and  BuUcalf.  When  four  have  been  accepted,  the 
fat  knight  orders  his  quartermaster  Bardolf  to  issue  uniforms  to  them: 
privately,  however,  the  sly  old  rogue,  on  receipt  of  three  pounds  cash, 
allows  Mouldy  and  Bullcalf  to  be  released  altogether  from  military  service! 
See  2  Henry  IV,  III,  ii,  91-173;  204-227;  268. 

w  King  Henry  V,  I,  ii,  18-28. 

[  153  ] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


1'  Ibidem,  IV,  i,  154-156;  166-174.  Henry's  first  remark  here  appears 
to  be  a  recollection  of  the  speech  of  Clearchus  to  the  treacherous  Tissa- 
phernes  in  Xenophon's  Anabasis. 

18  Ibidem,  III,  i,  1-34. 

»  Ibidem,  V,  ii,  160,  161. 

20  Hamlet,  III,  i,  160,  161.    See  note,  Sprague's  ed. 

21  i   Henry  IV,  V,  i,  127-139. 

^Richard  II,  I.  i,  177-179;    182,  183. 

23  7   Henry  IV,  I.  iii,  194-205. 

2*  Henry  V,  IV,  iii,  16-67.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  was  fought  October 
25,  1415. 

26  "  Why  don't  you  enlist?  "  said  State  Senator  Hammond  of  Connecticut 
to  me  at  the  beginning  of  our  '  War  between  the  States  '  (1861).  "  Be- 
cause I  have  a  wife  and  children  to  support,"  I  replied.  "  Why  don't  you 
enlist?  "  he  asked  an  impecunious  lawyer  at  my  side.  "  Because  I  have 
no  wife  nor  children  to  support,"  he  answered!  The  State  of  Connecticut 
was  promising  to  take  good  care  of  soldiers'  families. 

25  On  huge  placards  calling  for  recruits  for  the  American  navy,  the 
authorities  are  careful  to  hold  out  as  one  of  the  inducements  the  oppor- 
tunities afforded  '  to  see  the  world.' 

2'  With  Leicester  in  the  army  of  the  Netherlands  were,  among  others  of 
note,  his  step-son,  the  brave  but  unfortunate  Robert  Devereux,  Earl  of 
Essex;  Lord  Audley,  Lord  North;  among  other  knights  William  Russell, 
Thomas  Shirley,  Arthur  Bassett,  Walter  Waller,  and  Gervase  Clifton;  Thomas 
Sidney,  younger  brother  of  Sir  Philip;  John  and  Thomas  Arden  and  Miles 
Combe,  who  were  probably  of  Stratford.  Ben  Jonson  at  this  time  was  only 
thirteen  or  fourteen:  he  served  there  later. 

28  E.g.     Note  the  lines  in  Ben  Jonson's  tribute  prefixed  to  the  First  Folio: 

"  Sweet  Swan  of  Avon!  what  a  sight  it  were 
To  see  thee  in  our  water  yet  appear 
And  make  those  flights  upon  the  banks  of  Thames 
That  so  did  take  Eliza  and  our  James!  ". 

So  the  publisher,  Henry  Chettle,  on  the  death  of  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1603, 
in  his  memorial  volume  entitled  '  England's  Mourning  Garment,'  has  lines 
blaming  Shakespeare  and  virtually  accusing  him  of  ingratitude  for  not 
writing  elegiac  verses  on  her  who  had  been  so  gracious  to  him;    thus 


[154] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

"  Nor  doth  the  silver-tongued  Melicert 

Drop  from  his  honeyed  Muse  one  sable  tear 
To  mourn  her  death  that  graced  his  desert 
And  to  his  lays  opened  her  royal  ear." 

2«  See  these  names  in  the  Index  to  Lee's  Life  of  Shakespeare;  also  in 
Halliwell-Phillipps"  Outlines,  Vol.  II. 

^Coriolanus,  III,  iii.  111-113. 

"Act  V.  vii,  112-118. 

"Act  II,  i,  40-46;   50,  57. 

M  Hamlet,  III,  iv,  55-62;  also  I,  ii,  186,  Sprague's  ed.  —  For  Chettle  and 
Davies  see  Fleay's  Shakespeare  Manual,  pp.  13,  15;  for  Aubrey  and 
Betterton,  Halliwell-Phillipps'  Outlines,  I,  10,  12;  II,  70,  71;  251.  For 
Rowe,  I,  13;    II,  72-76,  298. 

»« See  note  27,  ante. 

"  Epilogue  to  Asolando,  2d  and  3d  stanzas. 

»/  Henry  IV,  I,  iii,  29-64. 

»'  See  Sir  Philip's  Biography  by  H.  R.  Fox  Bourne. 

It  may  be  objected  that  Will  Shakespeare  was  not  a  good  penman  and 
therefore  could  hardly  have  been  acceptable  as  clerk,  secretary,  or  amanuen- 
sis to  Sir  Philip.  But  he  certainly  wrote  a  better  hand  than  Sir  Henry 
Irving,  several  of  whose  autograph  letters  to  me  I  should  in  vain  have 
attempted  to  decipher,  had  I  not  known  before  receiving  them  what  he 
meant  to  say. 

The  probability,  however,  is  that  like  Hamlet,  in  whom  all  agree  that 
we  see  much  of  the  dramatist  himself,  he  was  able  to  write  a  fair  hand  in 
his  youth.    Says  Hamlet, 

I  sat  me  down; 
Devised  a  new  commission;   wrote  it  fair: 
I  once  did  hold  it,  as  our  statists  do, 
A  baseness  to  write  fair,  and  labored  much 
How  to  forget  that  learning;   but,  sir,  now 
It  did  me  yeoman's  service. 

—  Hamlet,  V,  ii,  31-35,  Sprague's  ed. 

Hudson  remarks,  "  It  was  accounted  a  mechanical  and  vulgar  accom- 
plishment to  write  a  fair  hand."  Dr.  Wm.  J.  Rolfe  quotes  Blackstone  — 
"  Most  of  the  great  men  of  Shakespeare's  time,  whose  autographs  have 
been  preserved,  wrote  very  bad  hands;    their  secretaries  very  neat  ones." 


[155] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


The  Italian  John  Florio,  translator  of  Montaigne's  '  Essays,'  quotes  the  great 

French  author  thus:     "  I   have  seen  some,  who  by  writing  did  get   both 

tlieir  titles  and   living,   disavow   their  apprenticeship,   mar   their  pen,  and 
affect  ignorance  of  so  vulgar  a  quality." 

'8  Richard  Tarleton,  clown,  jig-maker,  and  dancer  of  jigs,  died  in  1588, 
and  Kemp  is  supposed  to  have  succeeded  him  in  his  comic  nonsense.  As 
to  jigs,  see  Furness's  Hamlet,  Variorum  ed..  Vol.  I,  pp.  189-190.  For  its 
etymology  see  notes  to  Hamlet,  II,  ii,  486,  and  Julius  Casar,  IV,  iii,  135, 
Sprague's  editions. 

Shakespeare  is  thought  to  have  Kemp  in  mind  when  in  Hamlet,  III,  ii, 
35-41,  he  directs  — "  Let  those  that  play  your  clowns  speak  no  more 
than  is  set  down  for  them;  for  there  be  of  them  that  will  themselves  laugh, 
to  set  on  some  quantity  of  barren  spectators  to  laugh  too,  though  in  the 
mean  time  some  necessary  question  of  the  play  be  then  to  be  considered: 
that 's  villainous  and  shows  a  most  pitiful  ambition  in  the  fool  that  uses  it." 

Twelve  years  after  Sidney's  death  the  satirist  John  Marston  in  his 
Scourge  of  Villainy  is  quite  enthusiastic  over  Kemp's  dancing  jig.  In  the 
year  1600  Kemp  distinguished  himself  by  what  he  himself  described  in  a 
pamphlet  entitled  '  Kemp's  Nine  Days  Wonder  Performed  in  a  Dance  from 
London  to  Norwich/  It  was  a  '  morris  dance.'  We  get  a  fine  glimpse  of 
it  in  Alfred  Noyes's  '  The  Companion  of  a  Mile,'  the  fifth  of  his  '  Tales 
of  the  Mermaid  Tavern.' 

^*  Julius  Casar,  IV,  iii,  135,  Sprague's  ed. 

*"  Black's  Translation  (pp.  383  et  seq.)  of  A.  W.  Schlegel's  Lectures  on 
Dramatic  Art  and  Literature. 

*i '  Knave  '  (from  the  Anglo-Saxon  cnafa  (German  knabe) ,  properly  a 
servant  or  boy)  generally  had  a  favorable  signification.  Thus  in  Wiclif's 
Translation  of  the  Bible  (1383),  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  begins,  '  Paul, 
a  knave  of  Jesus  Christ,  called  to  be  an  Apostle,'  etc.  Brutus  in  Julius 
Casar  speaks  [affectionately  to  his  boy  attendant  Lucius;  "  Poor  knave, 
I  blame  thee  not,"  and  "Gentle  knave,  good  night!"  IV,  iii,  239,  267, 
Sprague's  ed.  Some  scholars  have  made  the  word  akin  to  knob,  and  so  to 
mean  '  Knobby  boy.'  The  total  depravity  inherent  in  '  knobby  boys  ' 
often  cropped  out,  and  so  the  once  innocent  word  became  tainted  with 
the  opprobrious  sense  it  now  bears  of  rogue  or  rascal! 

^^  Othello,  III,  iii,  349-352. 

"  For  a  merciless  arraignment  of  Elizabeth  at  the  bar  of  history,  see 
Professor  Goldwin  Smith's  '  The  United  Kingdom,  A  Political  History,' 
Vol.  I,  pp.  367  et  seq.;  especially  388-392.  "A  policy  partial,  feeble,  and 
fretful;  vacillation,  infirmity  of  purpose,  and  general  dishonesty;  false  and 
perfidious,   heartless  and   selfish;    capable   at   times   of   hateful   cruelty;    a 


[156] 


His  Sword  and  Musket 

vanity  such  as  could  hardly  dwell  in  the  same  breast  with  greatness;  to 
say  nothing  of  her  indelicacy  and  at  least  one  darker  stain  (prompting  to 
the  assassination  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots)!  a  virago  who  spat,  swore,  and 
cuffed! "  —  such  is  the  indictment,  and  it  seems  to  be  sustained.  There  is 
hardly  in  history  a  more  painful  disillusion  than  the  admirer  of  '  Great 
Elizabeth  '  experiences  when  he  first  comes  to  know  '  the  true  inwardness  ' 
of  the  character  and  conduct  of  '  the  Virgin  Queen.'  But  of  all  this,  at  the 
epoch  in  question,  young  Shakespeare  knew  little,  and  the  common  people 
nothing. 


[157] 


Study  IV 

Shakespeare's  Wand  and  Sceptre 


Yes,  Master  of  the  human  heaft!  we  own 

Thy  sovereign  sway,  and  bow  before  thy  throne. 

There  warbles  Poesy  her  sweetest  song; 

There  the  wild  Passions  wait,  thy  vassal  throng; 

At  thy  command  the  varied  tumult  rolls, 

Now  Pity  melts,  now  Terror  chills  our  souls; 

Now,  as  thou  wav'st  the  wizard  rod,  are  seen 

The  Fays  and  Elves  quick-glancing  o'er  the  green; 

There,    mid    the   lightning's   blaze    and    whirlwind's 

howl. 
On  the  scathed  heath  the  fatal  Sisters  scowl. 

These  are  thy  wonders,  Nature's  darling  birth! 
And  Fame  shall  waft  thy  wealth  o'er  all  the  earth. 
There,  where  Rome's  eagle  never  stooped  for  blood, 
By  hallowed  Ganges  or  Missouri's  flood. 
Thy  peaceful  triumphs  spread,  and  mock  the  pride 
Of  Pella's  Youth,  and  Julius  slaughter-dyed. 

In  ages  far  remote,  if  Albion's  state 

Hath  touched  the  mortal  limit,  marked  by  Fate, 

E'en  Australasia  shall  thy  sway  prolong. 

And  her  rich  cities  echo  with  thy  song; 

There  myriads  still  shall  laugh  or  drop  the  tear 

At  Falstaff's  humor  or  the  woes  of  Lear; 

Man  wave-like  following  man  thy  powers  admire. 

And  thou,  my  Shakespeare,  reign  till  time  expire! 

Newstead  Abbey,  Charles  Symmons,  D.D. 

England.  Aug.  4,  1825. 


STUDY  IV 
SHAKESPEARE'S  WAND  AND  SCEPTRE 

A   STUDY   OF   HIS   IMAGINATION   AND   POINTS   OF 
SUPERIORITY 

"  There  is  an  upstart  crow  beautified  with  our 
feathers."  So  Shakespeare  is  described  by  Robert 
Greene  in  the  year  1592.^  "  Beautified  with  our 
feathers!  "  This  seems  to  imply  that  he  is  a 
plagiarist.  That  may  not  be  the  meaning;  but  it 
suggests  the  question  of  his  originality. 

"  Many  have  supposed  him  original,"  says  Grant 
White,  "  when  he  was  only  following  the  old  play 
or  the  old  story."  Emerson  remarks  —  "Shake- 
speare regarded  the  mass  of  plays  as  waste  stock, 
in  which  any  experiment  might  be  freely  tried, 
and  he  used  whatever  he  found.  The  investiga- 
tion leaves  hardly  a  single  play  as  his  absolute 
invention."  "  A  great  poet  "  (I  am  still  quoting 
Emerson)  "  knows  the  sparkle  of  the  true  stone, 
and  puts  it  in  high  place,  wherever  he  finds  it. 
Chaucer  is  a  huge  borrower;  he  uses  poor  old  John 
Gower  as  if  he  were  only  a  brick  kiln  or  a  stone 
quarry,  out  of  which  to  build  his  house.  He  steals 
by  this  apology,  that  what  he  takes  has  no  value 
where  he  finds  it,  and  the  greatest  where  he  leaves 
it." 

It   is   doubtful   if  Shakespeare  originated   wholly 

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Studies  in  Shakespeare 

a  single  play.-  When  he  builds  the  stately  edifice, 
he  usually  finds  the  corner  stone  already  laid, 
some  if  not  all  of  the  foundations  in  position,  some 
of  the  principal  apartments  located.  In  what, 
then,  does  his  originality  consist?  Partly  in  this: 
that,  as  Augustus  '  found  Rome  brick  and  left  it 
marble,'  so  Shakespeare  finds  a  barn  and  leaves  it 
a  palace.  He  touches  the  rude  fabric:  wood  be- 
comes gold,  foundations  grow,  walls  recede,  rooms 
multiply,  ceilings  lift;  the  roof  expands,  rounds 
into  a  dome,  stretches  far  toward  the  infinite 
blue.     Lo,  columns,  arches,  battlements,  towers! 

"  Cornice   or   frieze   with   bossy   sculptures   graven!  " 

But  the  new  structure,  though  it  proves  him  a 
master  builder,  is  the  least  part.  He  was  not 
architect  only,  nor  chiefly.  So  far  as  mere  frame- 
works or  plots  are  concerned,  other  dramatists 
and  some  novelists  have  been  equally  inventive, 
equally  constructive;  many  of  them  more  so.' 
But  what  music  sounds  through  Shakespeare's 
halls!  What  flowers  of  fancy  and  fragrance  of 
sentiment  there!  What  outlooks  to  earth  and  sky, 
toward  heaven  and  hell,  from  those  windows! 
What  pictures  adorn  those  walls,  or  move  before 
our  eyes! 

Yet  melody  of  verse,  bloom  of  ideality,  aroma  of 
feeling,  glimpses  of  great  truths  of  the  seen  and  the 
unseen,  some  of  them  from  lofty  soarings  or  deep- 
sea  soundings  of  the  soul  —  neither  one  nor  many 

[162] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

of  these  combined  are  the  principal  charm.  More 
than  all  else  what  living,  speaking,  energetic  forms, 
interesting  persons  are  here!  The  first  thing  we 
note  on  entering  and  the  last  on  leaving  is  the 
multitude  of  striking  characters,  many  of  them  the 
creation  of  the  poet  himself,  a  hundred  of  them 
seeming  more  real  than  the  men  and  women  of 
history! 

It  is  not  so  much  their  number  as  their  distinct- 
ness, representativeness,  and  mutual  helpfulness. 
Here  are  thirty-seven  plays  presenting  more  than 
twelve  hundred  speakers,  each  of  whom  with 
hardly  an  exception  talks  and  acts  consistently 
with  the  author's  conception  of  his  part  and  so  as 
to  promote  the  purpose  of  the  whole.  For,  speak- 
ing broadly,  these  productions,  not  only  in  their 
structure  but  also  in  the  arrangement  and  interplay 
of  characters,  fulfil  measurably  the  definition  of  an 
organism,  that  in  which  all  portions  are  recipro- 
cally means  and  ends. 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  loose  exaggera- 
tion in  describing  his  power,  but  most  critics  would 
probably  agree  in  asserting  this:  That  no  other 
dramatist,  perhaps  no  other  man,  ever  stood  at  so 
many  independent  standpoints,  looked  through  so 
many  eyes,  spoke  from  so  many  lips  —  in  a  word 
identified  himself  with  so  many  individualities. 
His  characters  are  rarely  or  never  exact  duplicates; 
they  are  seldom  interchangeable  or  superfluous. 
Often    each    is    typical    of    a    distinct    class.     How 

[163] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

different  from  many  great  poets!  Byron's  Man- 
fred, Mazeppa,  Lara,  Cain,  Conrad,  Hugo,  Alp, 
Childe  Harold,  Don  Juan,  Sardanapalus  and  the 
rest  —  all  are  different  editions  of  Byron  himself, 
Byrons  in  miniature:  they  all  have  the  handsome 
Byronic  scowl,  or  the  beautiful  Byronic  disdain, 
or  the  bitter  Byronic  sneer,  or  the  eloquent  Byronic 
whine!  Most  of  Milton's  personages  too,  —  Mil- 
ton's Samson,  Sabrina,  Adam,  Eve,  Abdiel,  Belial, 
Beelzebub,  Gabriel,  Michael,  Uriel,  Raphael,  and 
especially  Satan  —  yes,  there's  a  great  deal  of 
Milton  in  the  devil!  his  enemies  always  insisted 
there  was  a  good  deal  of  the  devil  in  Milton!  — 
they  are  all  stamped  with  Milton's  likeness;  all 
are  phases  of  John  Milton! 

Not  so  with  Shakespeare.  His  characters  are  not 
little  Shakespeares.  If  he  seems  to  duplicate,  it  is 
for  dramatic  effect,  as  in  the  case  of  the  two 
Dromios  of  Syracuse  and  Ephesus  in  The  Comedy 
of  Errors.  They  are  exactly  alike  externally,  as 
are  also  their  masters.  You  cannot  tell  them  apart 
by  their  looks,  "and  there's  the  humor  of  it"; 
but  they  are  differentiated;   not  alike  internally. 

In  this  Character-creation  the  dramatist  ap- 
parently loses  his  identity,  wears  many  masks, 
becomes  successively  each  of  a  thousand  persons. 
How  is  this  transformation  effected?  Apparently 
either  by  intuition  and  reproduction,  or  by  original 
creation:  he  either  enters  into  the  consciousness  of 
some  known  personage,  perhaps  historical,  and  then 

[  164  ] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

re-creates  it,  sometimes  bettering  it,  Shakespearianiz- 
ing  it!  ^  or  he  assumes,  or  so  to  speak  invents,  a 
consciousness,  clothes  it  with  flesh  and  blood,  all  the 
attributes  of  personality;  and  thus  really  originates 
the  character.  In  either  case,  the  self-effacement 
is  perfect;   the  writer  himself  disappears. 

From  '  the  foremost  man  of  all  this  world,' 
as  he  styles  Julius  Caesar,  and  from  old  Lear 
'  every  inch  a  king,'  all  the  way  down  to  young 
Gobbo,  whose  horizon  rarely  reaches  beyond  his 
dinner,  and  to  Launce  whose  life  mission  was  to 
train  his  mischievous  cur  Crab  '  even  as  one  would 
say,'  "precisely  »thus  would  I  teach  a  dog";  — 
from  the  elder  Hamlet,  '  a  goodly  king,' 

A  combination  and  a  form  indeed 
Where  every  god  did  seem  to  set  his  seal 
To  give  the  world  assurance  of  a  man; 

and  from  Mark  Antony,  of  whose  Herculean 
physique  Cleopatra  exclaims, 

His  face  was  as  the  heavens;   and  therein  stuck 

A  sun  and  moon,  which  kept  their  course  and  lighted 

The  little  O,  the  earth! 

His  legs  bestrid  the  ocean;   his  reared  arm 
Crested  the  world;   his  voice  was  propertied 
As  all  the  tuned  spheres!  — 

from  such,  all  the  way  down  to  Thersites  of  the 
sugar-loaf  head,  mastiff  jaws,  bandy  legs,  '  lame 
of  the  other  foot';  — yes,  still  lower  to  Caliban, 
tortoise  shaped,  *  fins  like  arms,'  '  ancient  and  fish- 

[165] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

like  smell,'  missing  link  between  man  and  brute;  — 
from  the  perfect  woman, 

The  noble  sister  of  Publicola, 
The  moon  of  Rome,  chaste  as  the  icicle 
That  's  curded  by  the  frost  from  purest  snow 
And  hangs  on  Dian's  temple,  dear  Valeria!  — 

from  the  transparent  innocence  of  Miranda,  the 
saintly  devotion  of  Imogen,  the  heavenly  tenderness 
of  Cordelia,  —  all  the  way  down  to  the  more  than 
swinish  foulness  of  Cloten,  the  more  than  Mephisto- 
phelian  malice  of  lago,  the  more  than  devilish 
savageness  of  Cornwall  or  Richard  Third,  —  the 
dramatist  left  himself  far  behind,  and  became  for 
the  moment  the  person  he  imaginatively  saw. 
Nor  stops  with  beings  of  common  flesh  and  blood- 
Gods  and  goddesses  from  Jupiter  and  Juno  down; 
allegorical  persons  like  Time  and  Rumor;  fairies, 
witches;  spirits  from  ocean,  from  air,  from  other 
worlds,  from  beyond  the  grave;  come  at  his  call, 
and  Shakespearian  words  issue  from  supernatural 
lips! 

Is  not  this  Character-creation  the  principal  thing? 
The  more  we  note  its  grace,  ease,  and  complete- 
ness, the  more  his  greatness  grows  upon  us. 
Argus  was  hundred-eyed.  Rumor  hundred-tongued, 
Briareus  hundred-armed;  but  such  epithets  be- 
little Shakespeare.  Rather  wnth  Hallam  we  term 
him  the  '  thousand-souled,'  or  with  Coleridge  we 
name  him  the  '  myriad-minded,'  and  speak  of  his 
'  oceanic    intellect.'     '  Oceanic  '!  —  how    multitudin- 

[166] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

ous  that  sea  of  thought  from  whose  depths  bubbled 
up  in  inexhaustible  profusion  such  varieties  of  being! 
If  we  name  as  the  first  point  in  his  superiority 
shown  in  a  previous  study  his  mastery  of  the  Eng- 
lish language,  the  blended  copiousness  and  felicity 
of  his  diction,  is  not  this  unequaled  creation  of 
strikingly  important  characters  the  second?^ 

To  make  this  self-transformation  more  complete, 
to  give  each  important  person  of  the  drama  an 
appropriate  setting,  framework,  and  background, 
he  often  creates  or  colors  an  environment.  As  a 
means  to  this  end,  while  he  himself  is  for  the  mo- 
ment out  of  sight  and  out  of  mind,  he  makes  many 
of  his  characters  strangely  subjective.  The  mood 
imparts  its  tone  and  hue.  Even  inanimate  nature 
seems  interpenetrated  with  the  soul  of  the  speaker, 
sympathetic  with  him,  sharing  his  views  and 
feelings;  at  least  the  speaker  thinks  so;  the  burning 
emotion  or  passion,  like  colored  flame  in  evening 
fireworks  filling  the  atmosphere  with  its  odor,  and 
suffusing  all  things  with  its  glow. 

This  will  be  clearer  by  illustration.  Take  Lady 
Macbeth,  bent  on  murdering  her  royal  guest. 
Contrast  her  words  with  those  of  the  king  and  his 
suite.  They  are  coming  to  her  castle  in  the  north 
of  Scotland.  It  is  '  beautiful  for  situation,'  pleasant 
for  its  pure  air  and  breezes  like  the  breath  of 
heaven,  attractive  for  its  architecture,  sweetly 
soothing  for  the  notes  of  '  temple-haunting  '  songs- 
ters all  around,  their  lovely  nests  in  every  advanta- 

[  167  ] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

geous  nook;  delightful  for  memories  of  affection, 
music,  gaiety,  mirth,  hospitality  within  its  walls. 
King  Duncan  is  coming:  all  should  be  gladness: 
but  she  means  to  kill  him,  if  need  be  with  her 
own  hands!  Her  soul  is  black:  it  radiates  dark- 
ness, as  Byron  says  of  Satan, 

"  And  where  he  gazed,  a  gloom  pervaded  space."^ 

If  she  thinks  of  any  bird,  it  is  one  of  foreboding, 
of  midnight,  Edgar  Poe's  *  grim,  ungainly,  ghastly, 
gaunt,  and  ominous  bird  of  yore,'  the  raven!  If 
she  thinks  of  any  sound,  it  is  one  of  evil  omen, 
a  hoarseness,  a  croaking!  if  of  any  ceremony,  it  is 
of  deadly  import,  fatal!  if  of  any  portion  of  her 
castle,  it  's  something  menacing,  frowning,  hostile, 
the  battlements!     Hear  her  mutter,  thinking  aloud! 

The  raven  himself  is  hoarse, 
That  croaks  the  fatal  entrance  of  Duncan 
Under  my  battlements! 

Soon  the  king  arrives,  all  unsuspicious,  full  of 
kindness  and  cheer.  Glad  thoughts  tinge  his 
speech.  No  raven  now,  no  hoarseness,  no  croaking, 
no  fatality,  no  threatening  battlements!     Hear  him: 

This  castle  hath  a  pleasant  seat:   the  air 
Nimbly  and  sweetly  recommends  itself 
Unto  our  gentle  senses.^ 

Banquo  chimes  in  — 

This  guest  of  summer. 
The  temple-haunting  martlet,  does  approve 
By  his  loved  mansionry  that  the  heaven's  breath 

[168] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Smells  wooingly  here:   no  jutty,  frieze, 
Buttress,  nor  coigne  of  vantage,  but  this  bird 
Hath  made  his  pendent  bed  and  prccreant  cradle: 
Where  they  must  breed  and  baunt,  I  have  observed 
The  air  is  delicate. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  note  in  passing  that 
this  imparting  of  the  color  of  the  mind  to  the  en- 
vironment as  if  one  looked  through  stained  glass, 
and  still  more  this  seeming  transfer  of  the  mind 
itself  to  surrounding  objects,  as  if  all  nature  were 
alive,  sympathetic,  consciously  akin  to  the  speaker 
and  sharing  his  mood,  is  not  peculiar  to  Shake- 
speare, James  Russell  Lowell  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstanding. Lowell  declares,  "  If  this  be  accident, 
it  is  at  least  one  of  those  accidents  of  which  Shake- 
speare only  was  ever  capable."  On  the  contrary, 
the  same  merit  is  seen  in  Bunyan,  Burns,  Milton, 
and  many  others,  including  Lowell  himself.  Thus 
Bunyan  in  one  of  his  self-condemnatory  moods  ex- 
claims, "  Methought  I  saw  as  if  the  very  sun  that 
shineth  in  the  heavens  did  grudge  to  give  me  light." 
Burns,  in  his  lines  To  Mary  in  Heaven  —  Mary 
Campbell,  whom  he  was  to  have  married,  but  who 
suddenly  passed  away  —  writes  of  their  last  meeting 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Ayr, 

"  Ayr,  gurgling,  kissed  his  pebbled  shore: 
O'erhung  with  wild  woods,  thickening,  green. 
The  fragrant  birch,  the  hawthorn  hoar, 
Twined  amorous  round  the  raptured  scene: 
The  flowers  sprang  wanton  to  be  pressed, 
The  birds  sang  love  on  every  spray." 

[169] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Milton  in   Paradise  Lost  describing  a  case  of  love 

at  first  sight,  makes  everything  share  and  seek  to 

augment  the  joy  — 

"  All  heaven 
And  happy  constellations  on  that  hour 
Shed  their  selectest  influence;   the  earth 
Gave  sign  of  gratulation  and  each  hill; 
Joyous  the  birds;   fresh  gales  and  gentle  airs 
Whispered  it  to  the  woods,  and  from  their  wings 
Flung  rose,  flung  odors  from  the  spicy  shrub. 
Disporting,  till  the  amorous  bird  of  night 
Sung  spousal." 

And  Lowell  himself  possesses  this  excellence  which 
he  affirms  to  belong  to  Shakespeare  alone.  Thus 
the  exquisite  lines  in   The   Vision  of  Sir  Launfal  — 

"  And  what  is  so  rare  as  a  day  in  June? 
Then,  if  ever,  come  perfect  days; 
Then  Heaven  tries  earth  if  it  be  in  tune, 
And  over  it  softly  her  warm  ear  lays: 
Whether  we  look  or  whether  we  listen, 
We  hear  life  murmur  or  see  it  glisten; 
Every  clod  feels  a  stir  of  might. 
An  instinct  within  it  which  reaches  and  towers, 
And  groping  blindly  about  it  for  light 
Climbs  to  a  soul  amid  grass  and  flowers. 


Joy  comes,  grief  goes,  we  know  not  how: 

Everything  is  happy  now. 

Everything  is  upward  striving: 

'T  is  as  easy  now  to  be  good  and  true 

As  for  grass  to  be  green  and  skies  to  be  blue; 

'T  is  the  natural  way  of  living," 

While,     therefore,     we     cannot     concede     all     of 

[170] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Lowell's  claim  that  Shakespeare  is  the  sole  posses- 
sor of  this  power,  we  may  grant  that  he  surpasses 
in  the  frequency,  the  completeness,  and  the  felicity 
of  its  exercise. 

This.  Character-creation,  embracing  not  less  than 
twelve  hundred  who  speak  in  all  nearly  twenty-five 
thousand  most  appropriate  words,  and  many  of 
whom  live  in  peculiar  atmospheres  of  thought  and 
sentiment,  implies  a  keen,  deep,  perpetual  scrutiny, 
not  only  of  human  nature,  human  conduct,  and 
human  history,  but  also  of  man's  surroundings,  all 
things  within  reach  of  the  senses  and  of  mental 
perception,  all  objects  and  subjects.  No  such 
production,  verbal  delineation,  or  tinting  of  en- 
vironment —  not  one  of  his  great  plays,  hardly  one 
of  his  great  characters  —  would  have  been  possible 
without  an  artistic  observation  extraordinary  in 
scope  and  power,  a  grasp  most  comprehensive,  an 
inspection  most  minute  —  all  eyes,  all  ears,  all 
sense,  all  memory  —  perception  and  apperception. 
Not  otherwise  can  we  account  fully  for  his  amazing 
intelligence  evinced  in  those  stores  of  information 
of  which  Lowell  declares,  "  The  range  and  accuracy 
of  his  knowledge  w^ere  beyond  precedent  or  later 
parallel."  This  result  may  be  questioned,  but  the 
superior  extent  and  accuracy  of  the  dramatist's 
observation  will  generally  be  conceded.  Take  a 
single  illustration.  In  2  Henry  IV,  the  Chief 
Justice,  Sir  William  Gascoigne,  reprimands  old 
Jack  Falstaff  for  pretending  to  be  young  — 

[171] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Do  you  set  down  your  name  in  the  scroll  of  youth, 
that  are  written  down  with  all  the  characters  of  age? 
Have  you  not  a  moist  eye?  a  dry  hand?  a  yellow 
cheek?  a  white  beard?  a  decreasing  leg?  an  in- 
creasing belly?  Is  not  your  voice  broken?  your  wind 
short?  your  chin  double?  your  wit  single?  and 
every  part  about  you  blasted  with  antiquity? 

Multiply  this  passage  by  a  hundred,  and  we  begin 
to  realize  that  this  man  was  perhaps  the  keenest, 
broadest  of  observers,  his  insight  and  range  micro- 
scopic and  telescopic.^ 

Considering  the  multitude  of  his  characters, 
their  representativeness,  the  completeness  with 
which  he  withdraws  himself  from  view,  and  the 
extent  to  which  he  allows  their  idiosyncrasies  to 
tinge  their  surroundings,  we  learn  how  tolerant, 
how  large-hearted  he  was.  His  overflowing  sym- 
pathies reach  an  extraordinary  number  and  every 
kind.  Clowns,  fools,  villains,  witches,  monsters, 
fiends  in  human  or  devilish  form,  as  well  as  kings, 
sages,  saints,  warriors,  statesmen,  and  truly  angelic 
women  —  all  are  made  to  appear  at  their  best, 
Shakespearianized ;  all,  even  the  worst,  allowed  to 
plead  their  own  cause,  speak  for  themselves  the 
most  fitting  words.  As  one  critic  finely  observes, 
the  dramatist  "  would  rather  feel  them  in  his  arms 
than  under  his  feet."  All-embracing  in  his  charity, 
he  can  even  "  give  the  devil  his  due."  Burns 
pitied  Satan  and  wished  he'd  reform!  — 

"  But  fare  ye  well,  auld  Nickie  Ben, 
O  wad  ye  tak  a  thought  and  men'! 

[172] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Ye  aiblins  might,  I  dinna  ken, 

Still  ha'  a  stake! 
I'm  wae  to  think  upon  yon  den, 

Even  for  your  sake!  "^ 

But  Shakespeare  goes  a  step  further,  respects  His 
Satanic  Majesty's  rank;    says 

Let  the  devil 
Be  sometime  honored  for  his  burning  throne! 

In  the  hateful  passage  in  which  he  represents  Joan 
of  Arc  invoking  the  aid  of  fiends,  they  are 

Under  the  lordly  monarch  of  the  north. 

Lowell  remarks,  "  Milton  can  do  justice  to  great 
devils,  but  not  to  little  devils."  But  the  dramatist 
abdicates  in  favor  of  every  one.  Saint  or  sinner, 
angel  or  imp,  fool,  felon  or  flunkey,  sage,  savage, 
or  simpleton  —  he  treats  all  fairly,  kindly,  sym- 
pathetically. Does  he  go  too  far  in  this?  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson  thought  so;  he  would  rather  see 
a  larger  measure  of  righteous  wrath  grinding  some 
of  these  demons  into  small  dust. 

We  cannot  help  feeling  that  is  what  fiends  are 
for;  to  be  fought  against  and  put  down;  to  be 
spurned,  not  dandled;  not  caressed  in  Shake- 
speare's arms  nor  any  arms;  but  flung  as  Alcides 
threw  Lichas  '  from  the  top  of  QEta  into  the 
Euboic  sea,'  or  as  Vulcan  was 

"  thrown  by  angry  Jove 
Sheer  o'er  the  crystal  battlements," 

or  as  Satan,  whom 

[173] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

"  the  Almighty  Power 
Hurled  headlong  flaming  from  the  ethereal  sky!  " 

And  so  Johnson  regrets  that  Shakespeare  "  carries 
his  persons  indifferently  through  right  and  wrong, 
and  leaves  their  example  to  operate  by  chance." 
Well,  if  he  erred,  it  was  on  the  side  of  charity. 
We  all  need  that.  Let  us  rather  set  this  down  as 
one  of  his  points  of  superiority,  that  no  other 
writer  of  that  age,  or  perhaps  of  any  age,  is  so 
tolerant  as  he. 

The  drama  of  ^schylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripi- 
des, from  which  Aristotle  is  said  to  have  drawn 
his  rules  on  the  Poetic  Art,  was  simple,  like  Greek 
art  in  general.  It  respected  strictly  the  Unities  of 
Time,  Place,  and  Plot.  Shakespeare's,  like  mediae- 
val art  was  complex.  Greek  was  classic,  severe, 
statuesque;  Shakespeare,  Gothic,  varied,  multi- 
form. An  ancient  temple,  say  the  Parthenon, 
with  its  chaste  simplicity,  may  stand  for  the 
ancient  drama.  A  cathedral  of  the  middle  ages, 
say  that  of  Amiens,  Cologne,  or  Milan,  with  all  its 
complexity,  may  stand  for  the  Shakespearian. 
Except  in  Henry  VIII  he  observes  pretty  well  the 
Unity  of  Plot;  but  he  cares  little  for  the  Unities 
of  Time  and  Place. 

He  is,  too,  the  earliest  of  dramatists  to  '  hold 
the  mirror  up  to  nature  '  by  blending  tragedy  and 
comedy.  Contrast  the  most  perfect  of  ancient 
tragedies,  say  the  Agamemnon  of  iEschylus,  the 
CEdipiis    Tyrannus  or   Electra  of  Sophocles,   or   the 

[174] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Alcestis  of  Euripides,  with  Hamlet,  Othello,  Lear, 
or  Macbeth.  Is  not  the  introduction  of  the  comic 
element,  more  or  less  alternating  with  the  tragic, 
truer  to  life?  Does  it  not  also  relieve  for  a  moment 
from  the  almost  unendurable  stress  of  horror? 
And  then  by  contrast  does  it  not  accentuate  and 
intensify? 

"  Life,  struck  sharp  on  death, 
Makes  awful  lightning." 

This  blending  of  sunshine  and  shadow  difTerentiates 
Shakespeare's  from  the  ancient  tragedies,  as  also 
from  most  of  the  French.  Perhaps  we  may  claim 
it  as  another  point  of  his  superiority. 

Besides  the  intermingling  of  tragedy  and  comedy 
as  often  occurs  in  human  affairs,  there  are  many 
passages  properly  described  as  history,  pastoral 
dialogue,  interlude,  and  even  farce;  so  that  old 
Polonius  is  as  correct  as  funny  in  his  characteriza- 
tion—  "The  best  actors  in  the  world  for  tragedy, 
comedy,  history,  pastoral,  pastoral-comical,  his- 
torical-pastoral, tragical-historical,  tragical-comical- 
historical-pastoral,  scene  individable  or  poem  un- 
limited: Seneca  cannot  be  too  heavy,  nor  Plautus 
too  light."  This  mixture  makes  it  difficult  to 
classify  the  plays  i^**  and  the  difficulty  is  enhanced 
by  the  disregard  of  the  Unity  of  Time.  He  allows 
many  months,  sometimes  years,  fifteen  or  more,  to 
elapse  between  the  first  and  the  last  act,  as  in 
Pericles,  The  Winter's  Tale,  and  Kirig  Henry  VIII, 
Equally   regardless    is   he   of    the    Unity   of    Place; 

[175] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

shifting  the  scene  in  Macbeth  from  the  north  of 
Scotland  to  the  south  of  England  four  hundred 
miles,  and  in  Cymbeline  from  Wales  to  Rome  a 
thousand  miles! 

A  simple  arrangement,  which  is  no  classification 
but  may  assist  the  memory,  is  to  make  the  end  of 
the  year  1600  the  dividing  line.  About  eighteen 
of  the  plays  were  composed  before,  and  about 
eighteen  after. 

Speaking  broadly  we  may  say  that  the  works 
of  his  early  manhood,  those  prior  to  1601,  display 
more  spontaneity,  fertility,  and  splendor.  Not  that 
imagination  is  anywhere  lacking.  Indeed  it  is 
absolutely  stronger,  bolder,  loftier  in  the  later; 
but  more  exuberant  in  the  earlier. 

Of  these,  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  which 
Hallam  deems  the  finest  of  all  comedies,  and  which 
Grant  White  singles  out  as  '  the  most  exquisite, 
the  daintiest,  the  most  fanciful  creation  that  exists 
in  poetry,'  has  for  its  chief  excellence  the  originality 
and  skill  shown  in  the  creation  and  management 
of  the  fairy  machinery.  Except  for  slight  touches 
in  Chaucer,  Robert  Greene,  and  one  or  two  others, 
he  was  the  first  to  place  upon  the  stage,  the  first 
really  to  introduce  into  literature  the  fairies  of 
English  folklore. 

Time  hardly  suffices  to  illustrate  the  skill  with 
which  he  has  done  this;  but  as  a  hint  of  the 
coinage  of  purest  and  most  playful  imagination 
we  may  quote  from  the  language  of  Oberon,  king 

[176] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

of  the  sprites,  to  his  '  tricksy  spirit '  Puck.  The 
passage  contains  the  celebrated  compHment  to 
Queen  EHzabeth  as  '  a  fair  vestal  throned  by  the 
west.'  It  appears  to  be  a  recollection  of  '  the 
princely  pleasures  of  Kenilworth  '  so  finely  de- 
scribed by  Walter  Scott.  Shakespeare,  then  a  boy  of 
eleven  years,  had  very  likely  tramped  over  to 
Kenilworth  a  dozen  miles  away  during  that  mem- 
orable fortnight  in  1575  and  seen  something  of 
what  he  describes.     Oberon  speaks  — 

My  gentle  Puck,  come  hither.  —  Thou  rememberest 

Since  once  I  sat  upon  a  promontory, 

And  heard  a  mermaid  on  a  dolphin's  back 

Uttering  such  dulcet  and  harmonious  breath 

That  the  rude  sea  grew  civil  at  her  song, 

And  certain  stars  shot  madly  from  their  spheres 

To  hear  the  sea-maid's  music. 

Ptick. 

I  remember. 

Ober. 
That  very  time  I  saw,  but  thou  couldst  not, 
Flying  between  the  cold  moon  and  the  earth 
Cupid  all  armed:   a  certain  aim  he  took 
At  a  fair  vestal  throned  by  the  west. 
And  loosed  his  love  shaft  smartly  from  his  bow. 
As  it  should  pierce  a  hundred  thousand  hearts; 
But  I  might  see  young  Cupid's  fiery  shaft 
Quenched  in  the  chaste  beams  of  the  watery  moon. 
And  the  imperial  votaress  passed  on 
In  maiden  meditation,  fancy  free! 
Yet  marked  I  where  the  bolt  of  Cupid  fell: 
It  fell  upon  a  little  western  flower. 
Before  milk-white,  now  purple  with  love's  wound, 

[177] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

And  maidens  call  it  love-in-idleness. 
Fetch  me  this  herb     .... 

and  be  thou  here  again 

Ere  the  leviathan  can  swim  a  league. 
Puck. 

I'll  put  a  girdle  round  about  the  earth 
In  forty  minutesP 

If  Midsummer  Night's  Dream  excels  In  that  phase 
of  imagination  displayed  in  the  creation  and 
management  of  the  fairy  machinery,  The  Merchant 
of  Venice  is  perhaps  unequaled  in  the  felicitous 
juxtaposition  of  contrasted  characters.  The  ter- 
rible Jew  is  face  to  face  with  celestial  Portia.  We 
must  not  pause  to  illustrate  this  contrast.  Victor 
Hugo  comes  near  it  in  Les  Miserablcs.^^ 

But  here  are  lines  which  Hallam  thinks  the 
finest  in  Shakespeare.  It  is  the  passage  which 
blends  in  delicious  harmony  love,  music,  moonlight, 
the  star  pavement  of  heaven,  loftiest  Platonic 
philosophy,  a  vision  of  listening  cherubs,  an  as- 
surance of  immortal  life. 

How  sweet  the  moonlight  sleeps  upon  this  bank! 
Here  will  we  sit  and  let  the  sounds  of  music 
Creep  in  our  ears.     Soft  stillness  and  the  night 
Become  the  touches  of  sweet  harmony. 
Sit,  Jessica.  —  Look  how  the  floor  of  heaven 
Is  thick  inlaid  with  patines  of  bright  gold! 
There's  not  the  smallest  orb  which  thou  behold'st 
But  in  his  motion  like  an  angel  sings, 
Still  quiring  to  the  young-eyed  cherubins! 
Such  harmony  is  in  immortal  souls! 

[178] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Illustrative  of  the  exuberance  and  splendor  of 
imagination  in  the  earlier  plays,  the  lines  just 
quoted  remind  us  of  another  claim  of  superiority. 
It  is  made  by  Richard  Grant  White.  It  is  in 
regard  to  the  language  form  in  which  this  imagina- 
tion often  clothes  itself.  Says  White,  "  Shake- 
speare's use  of  simile,  imagery,  and  impersonation, 
shows  a  power  to  which  that  of  any  other  poet  in 
this  respect  cannot  be  compared  even  in  the  way  of 
derogation;  for  it  is  not  only  superior  to,  but 
unlike  that  which  we  find  in  any  other."  He  adds 
by  way  of  explanation,  "  He  fuses  a  thought,  a 
feeling,  and  an  image  together."  There  is  a  basis 
of  truth  in  this  claim,  though  at  first  it  may  seem 
extravagant.  On  careful  examination  we  shall 
find  that  the  analysis  is  not  original  with  White; 
the  synthesis  he  praises  is  not  peculiar  to  Shake- 
speare. The  rhetorical  or  poetic  combination  of  a 
truth,  a  sentiment,  and  a  picture  is  almost  the 
precise  excellence  which  Edmund  Burke  com- 
mended a  century  and  a  half  ago  as  characteristic 
of  great  writers  in  every  age.  "  A  truly  fine 
sentence,"  said  Burke,  "  consists  in  a  union  of 
thought,  feeling,  and  imagery  —  of  a  striking  truth 
and  a  corresponding  sentiment,  rendered  doubly 
striking  by  the  force  and  beauty  of  figurative 
language. "^^  The  simplest  element,  the  indis- 
pensable basis,  ornament  or  no  ornament,  must  be 
a  truth,  important  or  at  least  interesting. 

To    Illustrate:     take    the    bald    statement    of    the 

[179] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

brevity  of  life,  "  Man  is  of  few  days,"  or  as  the 
Prayer  Book  has  it,  "  Man  hath  but  a  short  time 
to  live."  The  next  step  adds  a  picture;  as  "  Your 
life  is  a  vapor,  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time  and 
then  vanisheth  away."  Or  two  pictures,  "  He 
cometh  forth  as  a  flower  and  is  cut  down;  he 
fleeth  also  as  a  shadow  and  continueth  not"; 
or  three  pictures  — 

"  As  the  winged  arrow  flies 
Speedily  its  mark  to  find; 
As  the  Hghtning  from  the  skies 
Darts  and  leaves  no  trace  behind; 
Swiftly  thus  our  fleeting  days 
Bear  us  down  life's  rapid  stream.^* 

Or  there  may  be  many  graceful  images.  Notice 
how  the  ornaments  soften  and  soothe: 

"  Like  to  the  falling  of  a  star. 
Or  as  the  flights  of  eagles  are. 
Or  like  a  wind  that  chafes  the  flood 
Or  bubbles  that  on  water  stood, 
Or  like  the  fresh  spring's  gaudy  hue 
Or  silver  drops  of  morning  dew; 
E'en  such  is  man;   whose  borrowed  light 
Is  straight  called  in  and  paid  to-night! 
The  wind  blows  out,  the  bubble  dies, 
The  spring  entombed  in  autumn  lies, 
The  dew  dries  up,  the  star  is  shot. 
The  flight  is  past,  and  man  forgot.  ^^ 

In  all  these  we  have  an  important  truth,  that 
life  is  brief;  but  here  is  no  passion,  no  emotion, 
scarce  any  feeling.     The  pictures  are  fine,  but  they 

[180] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

have  no  color.  Let  us  add  the  third  ingredient, 
the  hue  of  sentiment.  Take  this  from  the  southern 
poet,  the  late  Father  Ryan  of  Mobile: 

"  Only  a  few  more  years,  weary  years! 
Only  a  few  more  tears,  bitter  tears! 
And  then  —  ah!  then  —  like  other  men, 
I  cease  to  wander,  cease  to  weep; 
Dim  shadows  o'er  my  way  shall  creep; 
And  out  of  the  day  and  into  the  night. 
Into  the  dark  and  out  of  the  bright 
I  go!  —    ...  and  then  like  other  men 
I  close  my  eyes  and  go  to  sleep; 
Ah  me!  the  grave  is  dark  and  deep! 
Alas!   alas!   how  soon  we  pass!  "'^ 

But  as  yet  we  have  no  impersonation.  Let  us 
add,  then,  to  the  three  component  parts,  the 
fourth  element,  personification.  Listen  to  half  a 
dozen  lines  from  Shakespeare's  Richard  the  Second. 
In  them  note  the  familiar  truth  that  life,  even  a 
monarch's  life,  is  brief.  See,  too,  the  imagery,  a 
king's  crown  expanded  to  a  palace  containing  a 
throne  and  a  court!  You  share  a  feeling  of  in- 
effable contempt  for  ridiculous  vanity;  and  there 
in  full  view  is  the  tremendous  skeleton  form  of  the 
King  of  Terrors,  death  personified! 

Within  the  hollow  crown 
That  rounds  the  mortal  temples  of  a  king 
Keeps  Death  his  court,  and  there  the  antic  sits 
Scoffing  his  state  and  grinning  at  his  pomp, 
Allowing  him  a  breath,  a  little  scene, 
To  monarchize,  be  feared,  and  kill  with  looks!" 

[181] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

To  show  that  this  fourfold  combination  is  not 
peculiar  to  Shakespeare,  note  instances  from  other 
authors.     When   Milton   makes  Satan   exclaim  — 

"  Which  way  I  fly  is  hell!    myself  am  hell! 
And  in  the  lowest  deep  a  lower  deep, 
Still  threatening  to  devour  me,  opens  wide. 
To  which  the  hell  I  suffer  seems  a  heaven!  "" 

we  have  one  of  the  greatest  truths;  namely,  to 
use  Milton's  language, 

"  The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven!  " 

we  have  as  intense  a  feeling  as  ever  was  uttered, 
Satan's  agony  of  remorse;  we  have  a  suggested 
picture,  the  lowest  depths  of  the  infernal  world; 
and  we  have  a  personification,  not  so  vivid  as 
Dante  or  Shakespeare  would  have  made  it,  but 
tremendous,  the  lower  deep  as  a  threatening,  all- 
devouring,  open-jawed  monster! 

When  Gray  paints  the  early  magnificence  and 
dark  and  bloody  end  of  Richard's  reign,  a  bright 
summer  day  ending  in  cyclone,  we  have  in  half  a 
dozen  lines  a  wonderful  combination  of  prophetic 
truth,  sentiments  of  joy,  pride,  and  reckless  con- 
fidence, a  maritime  picture  unsurpassed  in  beauty; 
vivid  personifications  of  laughing  Morn,  a  gilded 
bark  on  a  smooth  blue  sea.  Youth  with  eyes  on 
the  future,  Pleasure  guiding  all,  and  in  the  distance 
a  crouching  Whirlwind  silently  awaiting  his  victims! 

[182] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

"  Fair  laughs  the  Morn,  and  soft  the  zephyr  blows, 
While  proudly  riding  o'er  the  azure  realm 
In  gallant  trim  the  gilded  vessel  goes, 

Youth  on  the  prow,  and  Pleasure  at  the  helm, 
Regardless  of  the  sweeping  Whirlwind's  sway. 
That,  hushed  in  grim  repose,  expects  his  evening  prey!"" 

Without  pausing  to  point  out  or  analyze,  we 
quote  from  Byron  sentences  illustrative.  The  first 
is  of  a  thunder-storm  at  midnight  among  the 
Alps. 

"  Oh  Night 
And  Storm  and  Darkness,  ye  are  wondrous  strong. 
Yet  lovely  in  your  strength,  as  is  the  light 
Of  a  dark  eye  in  woman!     Far  along 
From  peak  to  peak,  the  rattling  crags  among 
Leaps  the  live  thunder!     Not   from  one  lone  cloud, 
But  every  mountain  now  hath  found  a  tongue. 
And  Jura  answers  through  her  misty  shroud 
Back  to  the  joyous  Alps,  who  call  to  her  aloud! 

And  this  is  in  the  night:   most  glorious  Night! 

Thou  wast  not  made  for  slumber!   let  me  be 

A  sharer  in  thy  fierce  and  far  delight, 

A  portion  of  the  tempest  and  of  thee! 

How  the  lit  lake  shines,  a  phosphoric  sea. 

And  the  big  rain  comes  dancing  to  the  earth! 

And  now  again  't  is  black,  and  now  the  glee 

Of  the  loud  hills  shakes  with  its  mountain-mirth, 

As  if  they  did  rejoice  o'er  a  young  earthquake's  birth!" 

And  so  the  Morning  after  the  storm  — 

"  The  Morn  is  up  again,  the  dewy  Morn, 
With  breath  all  incense,  and  with  cheek  all   bloom, 
Laughing  away  the  clouds  with  playful  scorn. 
And  living  as  if  earth  contained  no  tomb."™ 

[183] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

In  these  passages  and  many  others  we  find  the 
fourfold  blending  that  has  been  claimed  as  Shake- 
speare's alone,  truth,  feeling,  picture,  impersonation 
—  warp  of  logic,  woof  of  sentiment,  embroidery  of 
fancy,  a  robe  richly  wrought,  and,  within,  the 
throb,  the  stir,  the  consciousness,  the  activity  of 
an  intelligent  personality.  This  is  as  truly  the 
fact,  though  the  workmanship  may  not  be  so  deli- 
cate, as  in  Romeo's  exquisite  description  of  the 
dawn.  He  has  stayed  too  long  in  his  courtship, 
and  his  life  is  in  danger.  Day  begins  to  glimmer, 
an  unwelcome  intruder,  seeming  envious  of  his 
happiness,  and  coming  to  sever  him  from  Juliet. 
The  subjectivity  is  inverted! 

Look,  love;   what  envious  streaks 
Do  lace  the  severing  clouds  in  yonder  east? 
Night's  candles  are  burnt  out,  and  jocund  Day- 
Stands  tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain's  topsP^ 

Professor  Goodrich,  in  his  work  on  British 
Eloquence  declares  that  more  sentences  combining 
a  striking  thought  with  sentiment  and  imagery 
are  found  in  Burke  than  in  any  other  writer.  On 
the  contrary  Burke  falls  below  Shakespeare  in  this 
regard;  and  if  we  include  personification,  there  are 
ten,  yea,  a  hundred  in  the  dramatist  to  one  in  the 
statesman.  Burke  rarely.  Bacon  never,  vividly 
personifies.  Shakespeare  deals  more  profusely  in 
this  quadruple  commingling  than  any  other,  and 
his  artistic  work  is  more  complete.  At  once 
philosopher,  enthusiast,  painter,  life-giver,  the  very 

[184] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

fibre  of  his  logic  seems  metaphor;  the  color  of 
sentiment  is  not  an  after  added  dye,  but  ingrain; 
the  figures  of  fancy  are  not  painted  or  printed  — 
it  is  not  calico  or  chromo  —  but  they  are  inwoven ; 
and  everything  that  he  looks  upon  or  even  thinks 
of,  lives!  What  does  this  show?  Is  there  not  in 
him  a  degree  of  piercing  insight,  subjective  inten- 
sity, fertile  fancy,  life-imparting  creativeness,  to 
which  we  find  no  complete  parallel,  at  least  in 
modern  times,  and  of  which  men  in  general  have 
no  conception?  insight  giving  us  truths;  intensity, 
sentiment;  fancy,  pictures;  vital  creativeness, 
persons? 

Set  down,  then,  this  fourfold  blending  as  another 
point  in  Shakespeare's  superiority. 

In  a  former  study  we  endeavored  to  show  that 
he  turns  at  will  any  word  into  a  verb.  With  equal 
ease  he  turns  at  will  any  object  of  thought  into  a 
person.  Probably  nowhere  else  in  literature  are 
there  so  many  such  or  so  life-like.  Let  us  illustrate: 
Romeo  has  slain  Tybalt  in  fair  fight;  but  the 
nurse  is  of  the  Tybalt  faction,  and  she  exclaims, 
"  Shame  come  to  Romeo!  "  Juliet  hotly  replies 
(again  note   the   fourfold   combination!)  — 

Blistered  be  thy  tongue 
For  such  a  wish!     He  was  not  born  to  shame. 
Upon  his  brow  Shame  is  ashamed  to  sit! 
For  't  is  a  throne  where  Honor  may  be  crowned 
Sole  monarch  of  the  universal  earth!^^ 

Listen    to    other    examples.      "  Disdain    and    scorn 

[185] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

ride  sparkling  in  her  eyes."  "  Nice  customs  curtsy 
to  great  kings."  "  The  wish  is  father  to  the 
thought." 

The  iron  of  itself,  though  heat  red  hot, 
Approaching  near  these  eyes  would  drink  my  tears 
And  quench  his  fiery  indignation 

There  is  no  malice  in  this  burning  coal; 

The  breath  of  heaven  hath  blown  his  spirit  out, 

And  strew'd  repentant  ashes  on  his  head.^' 

One  more  illustration  out  of  hundreds; 

Your  mind  is  tossing  on  the  ocean. 

There  where  your  argosies  with  portly  sail. 

Like  signiors  and  rich  burghers  on  the  flood, 

Or,  as  it  were,  the  pageants  of  the  sea, 

Do  overpeer  the  petty  traffickers 

That  curtsy  to  them,  do  them  reverence, 

As  they  fly  by  them  with  their  woven  wings.^* 

This  vivid  personification  affords  a  glance,  per- 
haps more  revealing  than  any  other,  into  Shake- 
speare's laboratory.  Weak  poets  glue,  strong  weld, 
Shakespeare  fuses;  simile  becoming  metaphor,  and 
metaphor  creation.  The  cemented  mass  —  truth, 
feeling,  imagery — in  the  passionate  heat  of  this  soul, 
becomes  incandescent,  melts,  flows  into  moulds, 
solidifies;  the  castings  are  statues,  the  statues 
persons  alive,   sympathetic,   immortal   as  literature. 

The  poet's  eye  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling 

Doth  glance  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  earth  to  heaven; 

And  as  imagination  bodies  forth 

[  186  ] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

The  forms  of  things  unknown,  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name.^^ 

"A  fine  frenzy!"  Is  he  not  thinking  of  himself? 
A  single  sentence  is  an  aerolite   from 

The  brightest  heaven  of  invention; 

a  single  act  lets  loose  a  group  of  shooting  stars; 
a  single  drama  is  a  comet  that  drags  in  its  train  a 
hundred  meteors;  and  what  shall  we  say  of  the 
"  Muse  of  Fire  "  that  could  send  from  its  depths 
in  quick  succession  thirty-seven  such  to  circle  for- 
ever in  the  world's  intellectual  sky? 

We  have  been  speaking  chiefly  of  the  plays 
produced  before  the  end  of  the  century.  It  is 
proper  to  add  that  some  of  the  earlier,  as  for 
instance  the  First  and  Second  Parts  of  King 
Henry  the  Fourth,  appear  to  exhibit  most  con- 
spicuously another  quality,  in  which  some  of  the 
best  judges  claim  that  he  surpasses  all  other  drama- 
tists or  even  all  other  authors,  his  Wit  and  Humor. 
"  Comparisons  are  odorous,"  as  Dogberry  wisely 
remarks;  but  Falstaff  is  often  regarded  as  the  most 
comic  character  in  literature.  As  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice says,  Falstaff  always  "  wrenches  the  true  cause 
the  false  way  ";  but  his  judgment  is  keen,  as  when 
going  into  the  battle  of  Shrewsbury  he  points  out 
the  emptiness  of  false  '  honor.'  So  he  says,  "  I 
am  not  only  witty  in  myself,  but  the  cause  that 
wit  is  in  other  men." 

L187  ] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

We  need  not  pause  to  illustrate  this.^^  It  is 
enough  that  we  mention  with  him  some  of  the 
other  names  synonymous  with  fun,  frolic,  jesting, 
comicality  in  a  hundred  forms;  Dogberry,  Bottom, 
Mercutio,  the  two  Dromios,  Launce,  the  two 
Gobbos,  Touchstone,  the  nameless  fools  and  clowns; 
those  who  laugh  and  those  who  are  laughed  at. 
May  we  not  properly  include  Wit  and  Humor  as 
an  element  in  Shakespeare's  superiority? 

If  his  earlier  works  best  exhibit  the  spontaneity, 
exuberance,  and  brilliancy  of  his  fancy,  I  think 
we  may  safely  affirm  that  his  later  have  more  depth 
and  delicacy,  more  reflective  power;  more  daring, 
comprehensive,  lofty  imagination;  deeper  signifi- 
cance of  humor;  intenser  pathos;  more  justice, 
charity,  self-control,  fortitude.^''  The  man  has 
grown  in  what  the  Scripture  calls  "  Grace,"  as  he 
has  grown  in  years.  These  qualities  will  be  illus- 
trated incidentally,  though  only  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent, in  what  we  have  to  say  of  three  surpassing 
excellences,  clearly  evident  after  the  year  1600; 
his  Philosophic  Insight,  Practical  Wisdom,  and 
Power  of  expressing  deep  and  varied  Emotion. 

As  bearing  on  his  philosophic  insight,  we  might 
quote  Lowell's  bold  assertion  — "  Whatever  we 
have  gathered  of  thought  or  knowledge  shrinks  to 
a  mere  footnote,  the  stepping-stone  to  some  hitherto 
inaccessible  verse."  Of  his  intuition  Lowell  writes  — 
"  That  intuition,  whose  edging  shallows  may  have 
been   sounded,  but  whose  abysses,  stretching  down 

[188] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

amid  the  sunless  roots  of  Being  and  Consciousness, 
mock  the  plummet."  Conversely,  but  to  the  same 
effect,  Hawthorne  declares,  "  Shakespeare  has  surface 
beneath  surface  to  an  immeasurable  depth  adapted  to 
the  plummet  line  of  every  reader.  His  works  present 
many  phases  of  truth,  each  with  scope  large  enough 
to  fill  a  contemplative  mind.  There  is  no  exhaust- 
ing the  various  interpretations  of  his  symbols; 
and  a  thousand  years  hence  a  world  of  new  readers 
will  possess  a  whole  library  of  new  books,  as  we 
ourselves  do  in  these  old  volumes  already."  Are 
Lowell  and  Hawthorne  given  to  exaggeration? 

This  insight  is  seen  in  numerous  masterly 
generalizations.     We  here  quote  but  three.^^ 

One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin. 

'T  is  mad  idolatry 

To  make  the  service  greater  than  the  god. 

It  is  an  heretic  that  makes  the  fire, 
Not  she  which  burns  in  it. 

A  learned  critic  characterizes  as  *  superhuman  ' 
the  precision  and  power  with  which  our  dramatist 
differentiates  at  different  epochs  national  peculiari- 
ties, as,  for  instance,  contrasting  the  Romans  in 
the  time  of  Coriolanus  with  the  Romans  four  and 
a  half  centuries  later  in  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar. 
The  gifted  essayist,  Edwin  P.  Whipple,  calls  at- 
tention to  the  subtle  insight  in  his  method,  seizing 
unerringly  the  law  of  a  class,  so  embodying  it  In 
a   character   as   to   constitute   it   a   type,   and    then 

[189] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

making  it  elevated,  ideal,  poetic,  in  a  word,  Shake- 
spearian! 

Akin  to  this  philosophic  insight,  and  as  a  conse- 
quence of  it,  we  may  name  his  Practical  Wisdom. 
A  palpable  phase  of  this  might  be  inferred  from  his 
business  success,  a  success  unparalleled  for  two 
hundred  years  till  the  time  of  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
But  his  practical  wisdom  as  an  author  has  often 
been  questioned  or  denied  altogether,  especially 
by  the  French  critics,  Chateaubriand,  Taine,  and 
Voltaire.  The  average  Frenchman  has  much  wit, 
little  humor.  He  is  likely  to  confound  taste  with 
wisdom.  They  ought  of  course  to  be  identical; 
but  too  often  in  the  fashionable  world  are  far 
apart:  taste  dealing  with  the  outside;  wisdom, 
the  inside;  taste  appearing  well,  wisdom  really 
being  well.  Chateaubriand  affirms  Shakespeare 
has  "  corrupted  art  ";  Taine  is  fond  of  representing 
him  as  eccentric,  irregular,  lawless,  bizarre,  exag- 
gerated, barbarous;  "  a  drunken  savage,"  says 
Voltaire,  whom,  you  will  remember,  Goethe  char- 
acterized as  '  the  greatest  literary  genius  of  all 
time  *  —  "  Mw  sauvage  ivre  sans  le  moindre  etincelle 
de  hon  gout,  et  sans  le  moindre  connaissance  des 
regies.''  Voltaire  continues  the  description  —  "a 
writer  of  monstrous  farces  called  tragedies "  — 
"  these  pieces  are  monstrous  in  tragedy  .  .  .  the 
merit  of  this  author  has  ruined  the  English  drama!" 
—  "  Imagine  what  you  can  of  most  monstrous  and 
absurd;    you  will   find   it  in  Shakespeare!"     Later 

[190] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

French  critics,  Victor  Hugo,  Darmesteter,  Mezieres, 
and  a  few  others  are  unquahfied  admirers,  as  are 
all  German,  English,  and  American.  "  A  heavenly 
genius,"  says  Goethe,  "  who  approaches  mankind 
in  order  in  the  mildest  way,  to  make  them  ac- 
quainted with  themselves."  "  He  was  the  man 
who,  of  all  the  moderns,"  says  Dryden,  "  and 
perhaps  we  should  include  the  ancients,  had  the 
largest  and  most  comprehensive  soul."  He  quotes 
with  approval  from  '  the  ever-memorable  Hales 
of  Eton,'  "  Whatever  topic  you  quote  upon  from 
the  ancients,  something  at  least  equally  well  writ- 
ten on  the  same  may  be  found  in  Shakespeare. "^^ 
Our  Emerson  declares,  "  Other  poets  are  conceiva- 
bly wise;  Shakespeare,  inconceivably.  We  can  in 
some  sort  nestle  into  Plato's  brain;  not  so  into 
Shakespeare's;   we  are  still  out  of  doors!  "^^ 

But  this  is  hearsay,  opinion.  One  fact  goes  far 
toward  proving  him  the  wisest  of  non-biblical 
authors;  he  surpasses  all  the  rest  in  the  number  of 
keen  and  deep  observations  that  have  become  prov- 
erbs. In  the  first  act  in  Hamlet,  for  example, 
are  more  than  a  score  of  aphorisms,  many  of  which 
are  as  familiar  as  household  words.     Thus: 

How  weary,  stale,  flat,  and  unprofitable, 
Seem  to  me  all  the  uses  of  this  world!  — 

"  Frailty,  thy  name  is  woman!  "  —  "  In  my  mind's 
eye,  Horatio.  "  — 

[191] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again.  — 

"  Loan  oft  loses  both  itself  and  friend."  —  "  Bor- 
rowing dulls  the  edge  of  husbandry."  — 

Foul  deeds  will  rise, 
Though  all  the  earth  o'erwhelm  them,  to  men's  eyes.  — 

"  A  custom  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  the 
observance."  —  "  Something  is  rotten  in  the  state 
of  Denmark."  —  "  One  may  smile  and  smile,  and 
be  a  villain."  — 

There  are  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  Horatio, 
Than  are  dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy. 

The  time  is  out  of  joint;  —  O  cursed  spite, 
That  ever  I  was  born  to  set  it  right! 

This  above  all:  to  thine  own  self  be  true. 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day. 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man.  — 

We  venture,  then,  to  name  Practical  Wisdom  as 
another  point  in  Shakespeare's  preeminence. 

One  word  more.  Coleridge  remarks  that  In- 
tensity is  a  leading  characteristic  of  genius.  In 
the  power  of  portraying  deep  and  varied  emotion, 
a  power  that  was  apparently  increasing  all  through 
his  life,  a  power  that  seems  to  have  been  totally 
lacking  in  Bacon,  Shakespeare  is  on  the  whole 
unequaled.  Milton,  we  may  concede,  is  un- 
approached  in  sustained  sublimity,  intensity  sono- 
rous and  prolonged.  But  we  always  fancy  Milton 
playing  the  organ,  as  Tennyson  sings  — 

[192] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

"  O  mighty- mouthed  inventor  of  harmonies! 
O  skilled  to  sing  of  time  and  eternity! 
God-gifted  organ  voice  of  England, 
Milton,  a  name  to  resound  for  ages! 

Whose  Titan  angels,  Gabriel,  Abdiel, 
Starred  from  Jehovah's  gorgeous  armories, 
Tower,  as  the  deep-domed  empyrean 
Rings  to  the  roar  of  an  angel  onset. "^' 

Milton  is  at  the  organ:  Shakespeare  plays  many 
instruments,  sounds  nearly  every  chord  in  the  heart 
from  its  lowest  note  to  the  top  of  its  compass. 
Shall  we  endeavor  to  illustrate?  —  sound  the  gamut 
of  the  diatonic  scale  —  imagine  a  "  Seventh  Sym- 
phony "!  show  the  three  primary  colors  —  fancy 
the  rainbow!  pour  a  glass  of  water  —  say  Niagara! 
a  splinter  of  marble  —  Dian's  Temple!  Neverthe- 
less we  quote  as  hints. 

How  much  love,  real  or  pretended,  when  the 
splendid  animal,  Antony,  returning  victorious,  calls 
to  the  Egyptian  Queen  — 

O  thou  Day  o'  the  world, 
Chain  mine  arm'd  neck!     Leap  thou,  attire  and  all. 
Through  proof  of  harness  to  my  heart,  and  there 
Ride  on  the  pants  triumphing!" 

How  much  of  reverent  love,  tinged  with  a  sense 

of  its  divineness,  for  the  sincerest  is  most  sacred, 

is   compressed    in    Ferdinand's   inquiry   of   Miranda 

and  their  instant  avowals! 

Ferd.  I  do  beseech  you, 

Chiefly  that  I  might  set  it  in  my  prayers, 
What  is  your  name? 

[193] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Mir.  Miranda.  —  O,  my  father, 

I  have  broken  your  hest  to  say  so! 
Ferd.  Admired  Miranda! 

Indeed  the  top  of  admiration!    worth 

What's  dearest  in  the  world.     Full  many  a  lady 

I  have  eyed  with  best  regard 

But  you  —  O  you, 

So  perfect  and  so  peerless,  are  created 

Of  every  creature's  best! 
Mir.  I  do  not  know 

One  of  my  sex;   no  woman's  face  remember. 

Save  from  my  glass  mine  own;   nor  have  I  seen 

More  that  I  may  call  men  than  you,  good  friend, 

And  my  dear  father 

but,  by  my  modesty. 

The  jewel  in  my  dower,  I  would  not  wish 

Any  companion  in  the  world  but  you; 

Nor  can  imagination  form  a  shape, 

Beside  yourself,  to  like  of      ...      • 
Ferd.  Hear  my  soul  speak: 

The  very  instant  that  I  saw  you,  did 

My  heart  fly  to  your  service;  there  resides 

To  make  me  slave  to  it 

Mir.  Do  you  love  me? 

Ferd.        O  heaven!     O  earth!    bear  witness  to  this  sound. 

And  crown  with  kind  event  what  I  profess. 

If  I  speak  true;   if  hollowly,  invert 

What  best  is  boded  me  to  mischief!     I, 

Beyond  all  limit  of  what  else  i'  the  world, 

Do  love,  prize,  honor  you. 
Mir.  I  am  a  fool 

To  weep  at  what  I  am  glad  of.^' 

How  much  of  scorn  and  wrath  break  from  Corio- 
lanus  when  he  turns  upon  cowardly  soldiers  fleeing 
in  battle! 

I  194  ] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

You  souls  of  geese  that  bear  the  shapes  of  men, 

How  have  you  run  from  slaves  that  apes  would  beat! 

Pluto  and  hell!   all  hurt  behind!   backs  red, 

And  faces  pale  with  flight  and  agued  fear! 

Mend  and  charge  home;   or,  by  the  fires  of  heaven, 

I'll  leave  the  foe  and  make  my  wars  on  you! 

Look  to  't:  come  on! 

Before  the  Volscian  lords,  whom  he  had  erst 
fought  single-handed  and  driven  like  sheep  before 
him  in  their  capital  city  of  Corioli,  their  leader 
Aufidius  now  stigmatizes  him  as  '  A  Boy!  '  '  a 
Boy  of  tears!'  because  he  has  wept,  and  yielded 
to  his  mother's  entreaties,  and  spared  Rome. 
Coriolanus'  words  are  sledge-hammer  — 

Measureless  liar!   thou  hast  made  my  heart 

Too  great  for  what  contains  it.     "  Boy  "?     O  slave!  — 

Pardon  me,  lords;    't  is  the  first  time  that  ever 

I  was  forced  to  scold.     Your  judgments,  my  grave  lords. 

Must  give  this  cur  the  lie. 

But  the  conspiring  nobles  are  drawing  their  swords 
to  kill  him  on  the  spot.     He  shouts, 

Cut  me  to  pieces,  Volsces!  men  and  lads, 

Stain  all  your  edges  on  me!  —  "  Boy  "?  —  false  hound! 

If  you  have  writ  your  annals  true,  't  is  there. 

That,  like  an  eagle  in  a  dove-cote,  I 

Fluttered  your  Volscians  in  Corioli; 

Alone  I  did  it.  —  "  BOY!  "" 

How  much  of  admiration  and  love  in  Florizel's 
praise  of  Perdita!  He  thinks  she  is  perfection: 
so  do  we. 

[195] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

What  you  do 
Still  betters  what  is  done.     When  you  speak,  sweet, 
I'd  have  you  do  it  ever.     When  you  sing, 
I'd  have  you  buy  and  sell  so;   so  give  alms; 
Pray  so;   and  for  the  ordering  your  affairs. 
To  sing  them  too.     When  you  do  dance,  I  wish  you 
A  wave  o'  the  sea,  that  you  might  ever  do 
Nothing  but  that;   move  still,  still  so,  and  own 
No  other  function.     Each  your  doing 

Crowns  what  you  are  doing 

That  all  your  acts  are  queens!'^ 

How  much  of  noblest  indignation  in  Queen 
Katharine's  repudiation  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  as  her 
judge  in  the  court  scene  in   Henry   VIII. 

Q,   Kath.  Lord  Cardinal, 

To  you  I  speak. 

WoL  Your  pleasure,  Madam? 

Q.   Kath.  Sir, 

I  am  about  to  weep;   but  thinking  that 
We  are  a  Queen,  or  long  have  dreamed  so,  certain 
The  daughter  of  a  King,  my  drops  of  tears 
I'll  turn  to  sparks  of  fire, 

Wol.  Be  patient  yet. 

Q.   Kath.  I  will  when  you  are  humble;   nay,  before. 

Or  God  will  punish  me.     I  do  believe. 
Induced  by  potent  circumstances,  that 
You  are  mine  enemy,  and  make  my  challenge 
You  shall  not  be  my  judge;   for  it  is  you 
Have  blown  this  coal  betwixt  my  lord  and  me,  — 
Which  God's  dew  quench!  —  Therefore,  I  say  again, 
I  utterly  abhor,  yea,  from  my  soul, 
Refuse  you  for  my  judge;   whom  yet  once  more 
I  hold  my  most  malicious  foe,  and  think  not 
At  all  a  friend  to  truth  l^*! 

[196] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

How  full  of  awe  the  prayer  of  Pericles  during 
the  sea-tempest  in  which  his  daughter  Marina  was 
born! 

Thou  god  of  this  great  vast,  rebuke  these  surges, 
Which  wash  both  heaven  and  hell;   and  thou  that  hast 
Upon  the  winds  command,  bind  them  in  brass, 
Having  called  them  from  the  deep!     O  still 
Thy  deafening,  dreadful  thunders;   gently  quench 

Thy  nimble  sulphurous  flashes! 

The  seaman's  whistle 

Is  as  a  whisper  in  the  ears  of  death. 
Unheard!" 

How  much  of  horror  in  the  selfish  Claudio's  fear! 
He  has  committed  a  capital  crime,  and  must  die 
for  it  on  the  morrow.  There  is  but  one  way  to 
save  his  life;  his  sister,  the  white-souled  nun 
Isabella,  must  give  up  her  chastity  to  the  foul 
acting  duke!  How  unspeakable  is  her  disgust  at 
the  vileness  of  Angelo,  and  still  more  at  the 
willingness  of  her  brother  that  she  should  pay 
such  a  price  to  prolong  his  worthless  existence! 

Claud.  O  Isabel! 

Isab.     What  says  my  brother? 

Claud.  Death  is  a  fearful  thing. 

Jsab.     And  shamed  life  a  hateful. 

Claud. 

Aye;   but  to  die  and  go  we  know  not  where  — 

To  lie  in  cold  obstruction  and  to  rot  — 

This  sensible  warm  motion  to  become 

A  kneaded  clod;  and  the  delighted  spirit 

To  bathe  in  fiery  floods      .... 

or  to  be  worse  than  worst 

[197] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

Of  those  that  lawless  and  incertain  thoughts 

Imagine  howling!  —  't  is  too  horrible! 
Isab.    Alas,  alas!  — 
Claud.  Sweet  sister,  let  me  live. 

What  sin  you  do  to  save  a  brother's  life  — 

Nature  dispenses  with  the  deed  so  far 

That  it  becomes  a  virtue. 
Isab.  O  you  beast! 

O  faithless  coward!     O  dishonest  wretch! 

to  take  life 

From  thine  own  sister's  shame! 

Take  my  defiance! 

Die!    perish!  —  Might  but  my  bending  down 

Reprieve  thee  from  thy  fate,  it  should  proceed. 

I'll  pray  a  thousand  prayers  for  thy  death, 

No  word  to  save  thee. 
Claud.  Nay,  hear  me,  Isabel. 

Isabel.     O,  fie,  fie,  fie!     'T  is  best  that  thou  diest  quickly!" 

How  much  of  desperate  fierceness  and  would-be 
cruelty  in  Lady  Macbeth's  invocation  of  evil 
spirits  to  come  and  help  her  kill  King  Duncan! 

Come,  you  spirits 
That  tend  on  mortal  thoughts,  unsex  me  here. 
And  fill  me  from  the  crown  to  the  toe  top-full 
Of  direst  cruelty!     Make  thick  my  blood! 
Stop  up  the  access  and  passage  to  remorse, 
That  no  compunctious  visitings  of  nature 
Shake  my  fell  purpose      .... 

Come  to  my  woman's  breasts 

And  take  my  milk  for  gall,  you  murdering  ministers. 

Wherever  in  your  sightless  substances 

You  wait  on  Nature's  mischief.     Come,  thick  Night, 

And  pall  thee  in  the  dunnest  smoke  of  hell, 

That  my  keen  knife  see  not  the  wound  it  makes, 

[  198,] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Nor  heaven  peep  through  the  blanket  of  the  dark 
To  cry 'Hold!     hold!'" 

How  refreshing  the  recognition  of  human  equaHty, 
the  utter  nothingness  of  rank  on  the  ship  in  The 
Tempestl  King  Alonzo,  Duke  Antonio,  the  high 
counsellor  Gonzalo,  the  King's  brother  Sebastian, 
and  other  noblemen  rush  on  deck  where  they've 
no  business  to  be  in  the  fury  of  the  storm.  They 
obstruct  the  proper  movements  of  the  sailors. 
King  Alonzo  undertakes  to  give  orders  to  the 
boatswain! 

Alonzo.  Good  boatswain,  have  care.  —  Where's 
the  master?  —  Play  the  men. 

Boatswain.     I  pray  now,  keep  below. 

Antonio.     Where   is  the   master,   bo'son? 

Boatswain.     Do  you  not   hear   him?  You  mar  our 
labor.     Keep  your   cabins:   you  do  assist  the  storm. 

Gonzalo.     Nay,  good,  be  patient. 

Boatswain.  When  the  sea  is.  Hence!  What  cares 
these  roarers  for  the  name  of  king?  —  To  cabin! 
Silence!     Trouble  us  not. 

Gonzalo.     Good,    yet    remember    whom    thou    hast 
aboard. 

Boatswain.  None  that  I  love  more  than  myself. 
You   are   a   counselor.     If   you   can   command   these 

elements  to  silence — we  will  not  hand 

a  rope  more.  Use  your  authority;  if  you  cannot, 
give  thanks  you  have  lived  so  long,  and  make  your- 
self ready  in  your  cabin  for  the  mischance  of  the 
hour Out  of  our  way,  I  say.'*" 

In  Lear  the  passion  is  almost  superhuman.     His 
brain  is  a  volcano,  hurling  masses  of  mixed  thought, 

1199] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

feeling,  imagery,  white-hot  and  swift.  Maddened 
by  the  ingratitude  of  daughters  to  whom  he  has 
given  his  kingdom,  but  who  have  repaid  him  by 
driving  him  out  of  doors  into  the  night  and  the 
storm,  he  exclaims  of  one  — 

All  the  stored  vengeance  of  heaven  fall 

On  her  ingrateful  top!    Strike  her  young  bones, 

You  taking  airs,  with  lameness!     .    .     . 

You  nimble  lightnings,  dart  your  blinding  flames 

Into  her  scornful  eyes!*^ 

Was  ever  more  distressful  cry  than  this? 

How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 

To  have  a  thankless  child! 

Beloved  Regan, 

Thy  sister's  naught.  O  Regan,  she  hath  tied 
Sharp-toothed  unkindness  like  a  vulture  here! 
I  can  scarce  speak  to  thee. 

When  Lear  thinks  the  heavens  are  friendly,  he 
appeals  to  them  for  sympathy  and  succor  on  the 
ground  that  he  and  they  are  alike  old! 

O  heavens, 
If  you  do  love  old  men,  if  your  sweet  sway 
Allow  obedience,  if  yourselves  are  old. 
Make  it  your  cause,  send  down  and  take  my  part! 

But  the  heavens,  the  elements,  are  not  friendly,  and 
in  midnight  and  tempest  he  raves  defiance  at  them. 

Blow  winds,  and  crack  your  cheeks,  rage,  blow! 

You  cataracts  and  hurricanoes,  spout 

Till  you  have  drenched  the  steeples,  drowned  the  cocks! 

You  sulphurous  and  thought-executing  fires, 

[200] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

Vaunt-couriers  to  oak-cleaving  thunderbolts, 

Singe  my  white  head!     And  thou,  all-shaking  thunder, 

Strike  flat  the  thick  rotundity  of  the  world! 

Crack  nature's  moulds,  all  germens  spill  at  once 

That  make  ingrateful  man! 

Rumble  thy  bellyful!     Spit,  fire!  spout  rain! 
Nor  rain,  wind,  thunder,  fire,  are  my  daughters. 
I  tax  not  you,  ye  elements,  with  unkindness; 
I  never  gave  you  kingdoms,  called  you  children; 

But  yet  I  call  you  servile  ministers. 
That  will  with  two  pernicious  daughters  join 
Your  high-engendered  battles  'gainst  a  head 
So  old  and  white  as  this.     O!    O!    't  is  foul! 

When  Lear's  discarded  daughter  CordeHa  hears  of 
the  treatment  of  her  father  by  her  unnatural  sisters, 

.  Now  and  then  an  ample  tear  trilled  down 

Her  delicate  cheek 

Faith,  once  or  twice  she  heaved  the  name  of  father 
Pantingly  forth,  as  if  it  pressed  her  heart; 
Cried  "  Sisters!  sisters!  Shame  of  ladies!  sisters! 
Kent!  father!  sisters!  —  What,  'i  the  storm?  'i  the  night?  " 

Then  she  shook 

The  holy  water  from  her  heavenly  eyes! 

When  at  last  he  has  become  helpless  and  insen- 
sible, she  bends  over  him  with  almost  unspeakable 
tenderness  — 

O  my  dear  father!  —  Restauration  hang 
Thy  medicine  on  my  lips,  and  let  this  kiss 
Repair  those  violent  harms  that  my  two  sisters 
Have  in  thy  reverence  made!     Was  this  a  face 
To  be  opposed  against  the  warring  winds? 

[201] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

To  stand  against  the  deep  dread-bolted  thunder? 
In  the  most  terrible  and  nimble  stroke 
Of  quick  cross  lightning?  .  .  .  Mine  enemy's  dog, 
Though  he  had  bit  me,  should  have  stood  that  night 
Against  my  fire! 

We  may  now  enumerate  those  points  in  which  it 
may  perhaps  be  fairly  claimed  that  Shakespeare 
surpasses  all  other  dramatists,  if  not  all  other  men. 

1.  As  shown  in  another  Study,  his  mastery  of  the 
English  Language,  the  blended  copiousness  and  felicity 
of  his  diction. 

2.  Character-creation,     the     number,     consistency, 
and  representativeness,  of  striking  Dramatis  Personae. 

3.  Felicitous  subjectivity,  creating  and  coloring  a 
sympathetic  environment. 

4.  Extraordinary  artistic  observation. 

5.  Vastness  of  knowledge. 

6.  Tolerance,  impartial  and  perfect. 

7.  Mirroring  actual  life  in  its  changing  phases. 

8.  Spontaneity  and  exuberance  of  Imagination. 

9.  Sentential    structure,     uniting    truth,     feeling, 
imagery,  and  personality. 

10.  Personification,  vivid  and  universal. 

11.  Wit  and  humor. 

12.  Philosophic  insight. 

13.  Practical  wisdom. 

14.  Portrayal  of  deep  and  varied  emotion. 

How  strange  that  few  or  none  of  that  age  so 
prolific  of  genius  recognized  the  greatest  of  them 
allH-  Ben  Jonson  knew  him,  honored  him,  loved 
him;  and  a  greater  than  Jonson,  John  Milton,  born 
nearly  eight  years  before  Shakespeare's  death,  has 
left    on    record    his    estimate    of    our    dramatist's 

[  202  J 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 

primacy.  What  he  thought  of  the  comedies  may 
be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  in  his  V Allegro  he 
singles  him  out  and  for  sweetness  and  fancy  places 
him  at  the  head  of  all  — 

"  Then  to  the  well-trod  stage  anon, 
If  Jensen's  learned  sock  be  on, 
Or  sweetest  Shakespeare,  Fancy's  child, 
Warble  his  native  wood-notes  wild." 

What  he  thought  of  the  tragedies  may  fairly  be 
gathered  from  the  Theatrum  Poetarum  of  his 
nephew,  Phillips,  a  work  that  bears  evident  traces 
of  the  uncle's  mighty  hand.  These  are  the  words: 
"In  tragedy  none  ever  expressed  a  more  lofty  and 
tragic  height;  none  ever  painted  nature  more  purely 
and  to  the  life."  And  what  he  thought  of  him  as 
both  author  and  man  is  clearly  seen  in  the  Epitaph 
composed  fourteen  years  after  his  death.  It  is  a 
voucher  for  the  dramatist's  moral  character;  for 
the  fastidious  young  Puritan  was  not  the  man  to 
tolerate  immorality,  much  less  to  glorify  one 
tainted  with  vice.  The  title  expresses  admiration: 
it  reads,  "  Epitaph  on  the  Admirable  Dramatic 
Poet,  William  Shakespeare."  It  expresses  personal 
love  and  religious  reverence,  calling  him  *  dear,' 
'  my  Shakespeare,'  speaking  of  '  his  honored  bones,' 
and  'hallowed  relics.'  It  almost  deifies  him;  for  it 
represents  him  as  '  son  of  Memory  '  (Greek  Mnemo- 
syne) and  so  by  inference  brother  of  the  nine  Muses. 
It  would  seem  as  if  there  was  talk  of  erecting  a 
lofty    monument    to    his   memory;     but    Milton    re- 

[203  i 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 

gards  any  such  possible  structure  as  *  a  weak 
witness  '  at  best,  though  it  were  a  stone  pyramid 
piled  to  the  skies  by  a  generation  of  toilers.  And 
lastly  by  a  far-fetched  but  truly  Miltonic  tableau 
he  groups  the  eminent  living  admirers,  himself 
among  them,  around  Shakespeare's  lowly  tomb,  and 
there  they  are  transmuted  into  marble  with  very 
astonishment  at  the  mighty  genius  that  had  dwelt 
in  that  tenement  of  clay.  For  a  sepulchre  encom- 
passed by  such  statuary,  even  kings  would  gladly 
die! 

The  earliest  of  Milton's  poetry  to  get  into  print, 
it  shows  him  the  first  truly  illustrious  Englishman 
to  appreciate  Shakespeare  at  his  real  worth,  and 
connects  most  honorably  the  greatest  of  epic 
poets  with  the  greatest  of  dramatists. 

"  What  needs  my  Shakespeare  for  his  honored  bones 
The  labor  of  an  age  in  piled  stones? 
Or  that  his  hallowed  relics  should  be  hid 
Under  a  stary-pointing  pyramid? 
Dear  son  of  Memory,  great  heir  of  fame, 
What  need'st  thou  such  weak  witness  of  thy  name? 
Thou  in  our  wonder  and  astonishment 
Hast  built  thj'self  a  livelong  monument. 
For  whilst  to  the  shame  of  slow-endeavoring  art 
Thy  easy  numbers  flow,  and  that  each  heart 
Hath  from  the  leaves  of  thy  unvalued  book 
Those  Delphic  lines  with  deep  impression  took, 
Then  thou,  our  fancy  of  itself  bereaving, 
Dost  make  us  marble  with  too  much  conceiving; 
And  so  sepulchred  in  such  pomp  dost  He 
That  kings  for  such  a  tomb  would  wish  to  die." 

[204] 


NOTES  IN  STUDY  IV 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 


'  Greene,  poet  and  dramatist,  a  man  of  real  ability,  had  been  educated 
for  a  minister,  but  had  fallen  and  become  a  drunken  actor.  Dying  at  32 
in  September  of  a  '  surfeit  of  pickled  herring  and  Rhenish  wine,'  he  left 
behind  him  a  singular  treatise  composed  on  his  death-bed,  entitled  '  A 
Groatsworth  of  Wit  Bought  with  a  Million  of  Repentance,'  in  which  he 
betrays  his  jealousy  at  Shakespeare's  rising  fame.  The  passage  is  com- 
monly regarded  as  the  earliest  contemporary  mention  of  Shakespeare  in 
the  theatre.  It  is  therefore  worthy  of  careful  examination.  It  reads, 
"  There  is  an  upstart  crow  "  (meaning  a  newly  arrived  ungainly  country 
fellow)  "  beautified  with  our  feathers  "  (perhaps  meaning  tricked  out  with 
a  theatrical  costume  hke  ours);  "  that  with  his  tiger's  heart  wrapped  In  a 
player's  hide  "  (echoing  the  Hne  in  3  Henry  VI,  I,  iv,  137,  '  O  tiger's  heart 
wrapped  in  a  woman's  hide!  '  —  the  phrase  '  tiger's  heart '  indicating  an 
intensity  amounting  to  fierceness),  "  supposes  he  is  as  well  able  to  bombast 
out  a  blank  verse  as  the  best  of  you  "  (addressed  to  his  fellow  dramatists, 
Marlowe,  Nash,  Peele,  or  Lodge,  and  attributing  to  Shakespeare  a  belief 
that  he  could  compose  sonorous  blank  verse  as  pompous  as  '  Marlowe's 
mighty  line');  "and  being  an  absolute  Johannes  factotum  (' Jack-at-all- 
trades,  able  to  do  anything  and  everything),  "  is,  in  his  own  conceit " 
(Shakespeare  must  have  known  his  superiority),  "  the  only  Shake-scene  in 
a  country."     '  Shake-scene  '  is  probably  equivalent  to  stage  manager. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  the  publisher  of  Greene's  book,  Mr.  Henry 
Chettle,  three  months  later  in  December,  1592,  publicly  apologized  for  this 
attack  on  Shakespeare;  and,  bearing  personal  testimony  to  his  gentlemanly 
behavior  and  his  excellence  as  an  actor,  he  declares,  "  Divers  of  worship 
have  reported  his  uprightness  of  dealing  which  argues  his  honesty,  and  his 
facetious  grace  in  writing  that  approves  his  art." 

■  We  find  a  substantial  basis  for  all  except  Love's  Labor's  Lost  and  per- 
haps The  Tempest,  which  some  suppose  to  have  been  founded  upon  an 
Italian  or  Spanish  novel  that  has  disappeared.  Only  slight  hints  have  been 
discovered  that  may  have  helped  in  the  plot  of  The  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

'  As  Scott,  Dickens,  Balzac,  the  Dumas,  Zola,  Howells,  Kipling,  and 
many  others.  Ben  Jonson  is  said  to  have  composed  50  comedies;  ^Eschy- 
lus,  70  tragedies;   Sophocles,  123;    Lope  de  Vega  Carpio,  1500  playsl 

*  Note  how  clearly  in  the  tragedy  of  Julius  Ccesar  he  sees  through 
Brutus,    Cassius,    Cicero,    Csesar,    Mark   Antony    and    the   rest;     how    he 


[205] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


improves  on  the  Homeric  conception  of  Ulysses  in  Troilui  and  Cressida; 
and  how  celestial  he  makes  Portia  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice  in  contrast 
with  the  rather  indelicate  and  greedy  though  beautiful  '  cat '  of  II  Pecorone. 

» See  Study  No.  1,  of  this  series,  p.  25. 

•See  Byron's  The  Vision  of  Judgment,  St,  xxiv;  also  Shelley's  Prome- 
theus   Unbound,  II,  iv,  3,  4. 

'See  notes  on  Macbeth  I,  v,  36-38;  I,  vi,  1-10,  Sprague's  ed.;  also  his 
notes  on  V,  i,  1-22,  of  The  Merchant  of  Venice;  also  Stanza  v  of  Milton's 
Hymn  on  the  Nativity,  and  his  Paradise  Lost  VIII,  511-520.  See  note  on 
Hamlet's  remark.  "  There  is  nothing  either  good  or  bad  but  thinking 
makes  it  so,"  II,  ii,  246,  Sprague's  ed.  The  reader  will  recall  the  famous 
song,  beginning,  "  The  year  's  at  the  spring  "  in  Browning's  Pippa  Passes. 

•Young  Gobbo  "sleeps  by  day  more  than  the  wild-cat";  Merchant  of 
Venice,  II,  v,  47.  Drunken  Stephano  knows  the  effect  of  wine  the  first 
time  it  is  ever  drunk;  The  Tempest  II,  ii,  67;  notes  in  Sprague's  editions. 
How  nice  the  discernment  by  Ulysses  of  the  effect  of  Diomede's  aspiring 
spirit!     (Troilus  and  Cressida  IV,  v,  15,  16.) 

He  rises  on  the  toe:  that  spirit  of  his 
In  aspiration  lifts  him  from  the  earth. 

•See  Burns's  Address  to  the  Deil,  last  stanza.  "The  lordly  monarch  of 
the  north  "  is  alleged  by  Schmidt  in  his  Shakespeare  Lexicon  to  be  Lucifer, 
referring  to  Isaiah  xiv,  13.  Symmons,  Rolfe  and  some  other  editors  make 
him  to  be  Zimimar,  one  of  the  four  principal  devils  invoked  by  witches.  See 
comments  on  1   Henry  VI,  V,  iii,  5. 

i"  The  most  common  classification  is  that  of  the  First  Folio  (1623);  via., 
14  Comedies;  10  Histories  (of  the  English  kings);  and  12  Tragedies. 
Pericles  was  not  included. 

"See  Notes  to  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  II,  i,  145-173,  Sprague's  ed. 
Grant  White  declares  that  line  161, 

In  maiden  meditation  fancy  free, 

furnishes  the  finest  example  in  literature  of  the  beauty  of  alliteration. 
But  is  it  finer  than  that  in  the  last  stanza  of  Longfellow's  The  Slave  in  the 
Dismal  Swamp, 

"  On  him  alone  the  curse  of  Cain 
-  Fell  like  a  flail  on  the  garnered  grain  "? 


[206] 


His  Wand  and  Sceptre 


or  than  Goldsmith's 


"  And  as  a  hare  whom  hounds  and  horns  pursue 
Pants  to  the  place  from  whence  at  first  she  flew  "? 

Lines  93,  94  of  The  Deserted  Village. 

>»  Merchant  of  Venice,  IV.  i,  35-385;  also  V.  i,  54-65;  notes  in  Sprague's 
ed. 

'3  Philosophical  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  our  Ideas  of  the  Sublime  and 
Beautiful.  It  was  handsomely  examined  by  Goldsmith  in  Griffith's  Monthly 
Review,  in  May,   1757. 

'*  By  John  Newton,  friend  of  the  poet  Cowper  (1725-1807). 

'»  Attributed  to  Francis  Beaumont  (1584-1616)  by  Charles  Dexter  Cleve- 
land (1802-1869);  but  to  Henry  King  (1591-1669)  by  William  Cullen 
Bryant  (1794-1878)  in  his  Library  of  Poetry  and  Song. 

15  Reverie  by  Abrara  Joseph  Ryan  (1834-1886). 

1-  Richard  II,  III.  ii,  160-165. 

IS  Paradise  Lost  IV,  75-78;  also  I,  254.  255.  But  Dante  places  his 
Lucifer,  alias  Satan,  at  the  bottom  of  hell.  Wedged  in  there,  he  is  crunch- 
ing in  his  triple  jaws  Judas  Iscariot,  Marcus  Brutus,  and  Caius  Cassiusl 

"Gray's  Bard,  71-76. 

2»  Childe  Harold,  Canto  III,  xcii.  xciii,  xcviii. 

21  Romeo  and  Juliet,  III,  v,  7-10. 

«!  Romeo  and  Juliet,  III,  ii,  90-94. 

21  King  John,  IV,  i,  61-63;    109-111. 

2*  Merchant  of  Venice,  I,  i,  8-14.     See  notes,  Sprague's  ed. 

^^  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  V,  i,  12-17. 

2«See  /  Henry  IV,  V.  i.  130-140,  quoted  on  p.  119  of  the  Third  Study 
in  this  series. 

"  If  we  may  include  Hamlet  and  Julius  Ccesar  among  the  plays  after 
the  year  1600,  we  may  safely  say  that  there  is  a  greatness  in  subjects  and 
characters  superior  on  the  whole  to  that  which  we  find  in  the  earlier. 
E.g.,  see  especially  in  The  Tempest,  IV,  i,  148-158,  and  the  notes  in 
Sprague's  ed.  Here  are  the  great  tragedies,  Othello,  Timon,  Lear,  Macbeth. 
Coriolanus,  Cymbeline,  Antony  and  Cleopatra;  the  great  comedies.  The 
Tempest,  Measure  for  Measure,  All's  Well  that  Ends  Well,  and  Twelfth 
Night. 


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Studies  in  Shakespeare 

='  Troilui  and  Cressida.  Ill,  Hi.  I'o;  II.  ii,  57;  Winter's  Tale,  II,  iii.  115,  116. 

M  In  the  voluminous  Dictionary  of  Quotations  from  English  and  American 
Poets  compiled  by  R.  H.  Stoddard,  himself  a  poet  of  no  mean  rank,  there 
are  five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  fourteen  choice  selections  from  two 
hundred  and  twenty-four  poets  illustrative  of  hundreds  of  topics.  Of  these 
quotations,  fifteen  hundred  and  sixty-three  are  from  Shakespeare  alone, 
being  nearly  three  times  as  many  as  from  any  other  poet. 

a>  Richard  Grant  White,  one  of  the  acutest  and  most  learned  of  Shake- 
spearian critics,  avers  that  the  Fool  in  Lear  "  has  wisdom  enough  to  set 
up  a  college  of  philosophers."     But  he  never  lived  in  Boston. 

31  Tennyson's  Alcaics  (experiment  in  quantity). 

32  Antony  and  Cleopatra,  IV,  viii,  13-16. 

33  The  Tempest,  III,  i,  31-52;   63-74;   notes  in  Spraguc's  ed. 
it  Coriolanus,  I,  iv,  34-40;   V.  vi,  103-106;    112-117. 

35  The  Winter's  Tale.  IV,  iv,  134-146. 
3«  Henry  VIII.  II,  iv,  68-84. 
37  Pericles.  III.  i,  1-10. 
^^  Measure  for  Measure.  III.  i,  114-150. 
»»  Macbeth.  I,  v,  38-52.     See  notes,  Sprague's  ed. 
«  The  Tempest,  I,  i,  9-25.     Consult  notes,  Sprague's  ed. 
"  Lear,  II,  iv,   156-160.     See  also  in  Lear,   III.  ii.   1-9;    13-25;    IV,   iii, 
12,  25-30;    IV,  vii,  26-39,  etc. 

«  The  literary  men  on  the  continent  in  that  age  or  not  much  later  —  men 
like  Cervantes.  Galileo,  Kepler,  Richelieu,  Grotius,  Descartes,  Joseph 
Scaliger,  Isaac  Casaubon  —  could  not  take  notice  of  the  works  of  an 
obscure  English  dramatist.  But  it  seems  surprising  that  he  escaped  the 
attention  of  the  great  Englishmen;  Bacon,  Raleigh,  Walsingham,  Richard 
Hooker,  Dr.  Donne,  Isaac  Walton,  Edmund  Spenser.  Sir  Edward  Coke, 
John  Selden,  John  Pym,  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of  Clarendon,  Sir  Henry 
Wotton,  Thomas  Hobbes,  Jeremy  Taylor,  and  the  rest. 


[208] 


INDEX 


N.  B.  In  this  Index  the  capital  S  stands  for  Shakespeare,  either  the  man  or 
his  works.  The  names  of  his  dramas  are  often  abbreviated,  the  initial  letters 
or  syllables  of  the  principal  words  in  the  title  standing  for  complete  words. 
Thus  L.L.L.»» Love's  Labor  Lost;  Mer.  of  V.= Merchant  of  Venice. 


PAGE 


.'Vctor.     As  such  S.  is  com- 
plimented. 

205 

Address      to      the      De'il, 
Robert  Burns's, 

173 

^schylus,  soldier-author, 

111 

quoted. 

148 

his  fruitfulness. 

205 

Affeeror, 

19,  20 

Agassiz,    Louis,    as   teacher 
in  school. 

73 

Agnes  Hathaway.     Same  as 
Anne? 

94 

Age,  Elizabethan,  most  re- 
markable. 

89 

Age  of  S.  at  marriage. 

60.  93 

at  deatii. 

93 

Age    proper    for    marriage, 
Bacon's  view. 

95 

Agincourt,  battle  of. 

122,  154 

Alcaics,  Tennyson's  experi- 
ment in, 

193,  208 

Aldermen       in       Stratford; 
John  S.  one, 

20,  21 

ale-conner. 

19,  46 

Alexander,  Mrs., 

109,  151 

Alfred    the    Great,    soldier- 
author. 

112 

Alleged    blunders      in     law 
by  S.. 

82 

Alliteration,    fine   in   S.,   in 
others,                             49, 

206,  207 

Alonzo,     King    of    Naples, 
intrudes. 

199 

American  soldier-authors, 

113 

Amyas  Leigh's  love  of  ad- 
venture, 

129 

Analysis,  sentence,  179,  184 

.Ancestry  of  S.,  17 
Ancestr>',    pride    of,    Saxe's 

burlesque,  45,  46 

Ancient  Pistol,  34,  51 

Ann,  sister  of  S.,  47 
Angelo,  acting  duke  in  M. 

for  M.,  197 

Angelo,  Michael,  quoted,  70 

.\ntonio  in  The  Tempest,  199 

Antony,  Mark,  in  Jul.  C,  205 

Antony,  in  Ant.  and  Cle.,  165,  193 

Antwerp,       captured        by 

Spanish,  134 

Aphorisms,  illustrative, 

quoted.  191,  192 

Apocrypha,  drawn  from  by 

S.,  59 

Arden.    Celtic  for  'wood?'  18 

Arden  family,  146 

.\rden,  Mary,  mother  of  S., 

17,  18,  46 

Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso,  35,  52 
Aristocracy,    American,    hit 

off  by  Saxe,  45,  46 

Aristotle,  174 

Armada,  '  The  Invincible,'  146 
Armorial    bearings    of    Sir 

Thomas  Lucy,  101 
Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted,  90,  91 
Arnold,  Thomas,  of  Rugby,  73 
Arrangement  of  plays,  dif- 
ficult, 175,  176,  206 
Arrest  for  poaching?  85,  101 


209] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


Art.  Greek, 
Gothic, 
that  of  S., 
Assonance, 
Aubrey,  John, 


quoted. 


40,  41,  66,  74,  86,  94. 
description  of  the  boy  S., 
Aufidius  in  Coriolanus, 
Aurora  Leigh,  Mrs.  Brown- 


PAGE 

174 

174 

174 

49 

132.  143 

41 

195 


ings. 


15,  70,  175 


22 

23,  36,  122,  132 

57,  70 

95,  129 

20 

85,  102 

96 

183 


Babe,  tenderness  of. 

Bacon.  Francis, 

Bacon,  quoted, 

on  marriage. 

Bailiff,  high,  in  Stratford, 

Ballad  on  Sir  Lucy,  coarse 
but  keen, 

Banquo,  whitewashed? 

Bard,  Gray's,  quoted, 

Baynes,  T.  Spencer,       23,  46,  47,  48 

Beaumont,  Francis,  quoted?  180,  207 

Bed,  '  second-best,'  67 

Beecher,  Rev.  H.  W.,  quoted, 

71,  72,  152 
Beeston,  William,  quoted,  74,  96 

Berni's  Orlando  Inamorato,         35,  52 
Betterton,     Thomas,     good 

authority,  40,  83.  101,  130 

Bible,  number  of  words  in,  25 

Bible,  knowledge  of  by  S.,    37,  38,  59 
Boatswain  ignores  rank  in  a 

tempest,  199 

Boccaccio's  Decameron,  35 

Boiardo.    Matteo    M.     His 

Orlando,  35,  52 

Bond,  marriage,  quoted,  93 

Books.   Shakespeare's, 

26,  38,  39,  58,  59,  93,  97 
Books,  we  have  too  many?  58 

Borough    court,  20,  21,  46 

Botany  in  S.,  115 

British  Eloquence,  Goodrich's         184 

'Boy "of    tears,'  spoken  in 

scorn,  195 


Brooks,   Phillips,   a   school- 
teacher. 

Browning,     Mrs.      E.      B., 
quoted,  15 

Browning's  life-work? 
Browning,  Robert,  quoted, 
136, 

Brutus,  Marcus, 

Bryant,  William  Cullen, 

Banyan,  John,  quoted, 

Bunyan,  soldier-author, 

Burges,  Tristan, 

Burial   of  Moses,   by   Mrs. 
Alexander, 

Burke,  Edmund,  quoted, 

Burke's    Philosophical    In- 
quiry, 

Burns,  Robert,  quoted. 
Bust    of    S.,    carefully    ex- 
amined. 

Bust,  colored,  etc., 
Butcher    business,    drama- 
tized, 
Byron,  Lord,  quoted,      168, 
Byron's     characters     little 
Byrons, 


PAGE 


73 


,  70, 

175 

58 

155, 

206 

126, 

205 

207 

169 

112. 

113 

96 

151 

179. 

184 

179. 

207 

169, 

173 

86, 

102 

102 

41 

183, 

206 

164 


Cffisar,  Julius,  soldier-author.lll,  165 
Calhoun,  John  C.,  quoted,  96 

Calendar,  O.  S..  '  retrenched,'         45 
Caliban,  the  '  missing  link  '? 

Campbell.  John,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, quoted, 

Capell,  Edward,  quoted, 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  quoted. 

Castle  of  Macbeth, 

Castle,  Mr.  William, 

Catechism,    Ch.    of    Eng., 
quoted, 

Celtic  blood,  nature,  etc., 

Cervantes,  a  soldier-author? 

Chamberlain  in  Stratford, 

Chamberlain's  Company,  the 
Lord, 

Chapman.  Geo.,  translator, 


165, 

166 

80, 

113 

46 

23 

167, 

168 

40 

86 

18 

.  45 

112 

20 

e 

96 

52 

[210] 


Index 


PAGE 

Character-creation,  the  chief 

thing?  163,  166.  171 

Characters  in  S.,  how  created, 

164,  165 
Characters  rarely  duplicated, 

1,000  male,  125  female,      163.  164 

Charity  in  S.,  hardly  paral- 
leled, 172-174 

Charlecote,   Sir   T.    Lucy's 

mansion,  101,  102 

Park  of  deer  at?  83 

Chaucer,  Geoffrey,  '  a  huge 

borrower,"  161,  176 

Chaucer,   a  soldier-author?     94,  112 

Chateaubriand,  Vicomte  de, 

quoted,  190 

Chettle,  Henr>',  apologizes,  205 

Blames  S.,  154,  155 

Childe  Harold's  Pilgrimage, 

quoted,  168,  183,  207 

Chuzzlewit,  Martin,  Dickens's, 
quoted,  27 

Classical  names  in  S.,  pro- 
fusion of,  96 

Classification   of   the    plays, 

difficult,  175,  176,  206 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  marriage 

at  83,  93 

Claudio  in  M.  for  M.,  197,  198 

Clearchus  to  Tissaphernes,  154 

Cleopatra  in  Atit.  and  Cle., 

disgusted,  27 

Clerk,  militarj'.  S.  for  Sid- 
ney? 116,  144 

Clopton,     Sir     Hugh,     His 

'  Great  House,'  68,  95 

Cloten,  the  human  swine,  106 

Clowns,  jesters,  fools,  etc. 
in  S..  188 

Coining  words,  30,  32.  49,  50 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  quoted, 

42,  75,  120,  166,  192 

Comedy  and  tragedy  in  same 

play,  174,  175 

Comedy  of  Errors,  source  of,    30,  50 

Comedy  in  S.  Milton's 
estimate  of,  202,  203 

'  Common-law  marriage  '? 

no  solemnization?  60,  93 


PAGE 

Compensation,  law  of,    110,  151,  152 

Compliment  to  Queen  Eliza- 
beth, 177 

'  Conjugation.'  quickly  learned, 

78,  79,  98 
Conjugation,  two-fold,  98 

Conscious  strength,  89 

Constables  in  Stratford,  19 

in  the  plays,  46 

Conscious  strength,  89 

Contemporary     great     men 

unaware  of  S.,  202,  208 

Cordelia  in  Lear,  166,  201,  202 

Coriolanus,  194,  195 

Cornwall  in  Lear,  166 

Court-leet  in  Stratford?       20,  21,  80 
Court,   Venetian,    its    four- 
fold power,  82,  99,  100 
Cowden-Clarkes,    Charles 

and  Mary,  quoted,  144 

Cowper,  William,  quoted,  113 

Crispian,  Crispin  and,  saints, 

126,127,  128 
Crispin,      Saint      Crispin's 

Day,  Oct.  25,  154 

Cromwell's  Ironsides,  124 

Currency  values   in   the   age 

of  S.,  95 

Cymbeline,  source  of,  35 


Dante,  soldier-author,  112 

Darmesteter,  James,  French 

author,  191 

Davenant,  Sir  William,  143 

David,  King,  soldier-author.  111 

David  Copperfieli,  Dickens's,  95 

Davies,    Archdeacon    Rich- 
ard. 130 

Davis,  Cushman  K.,  on  law 

in  S.,  quoted,  81,  113 

Davis,    John    of    Hereford, 

quoted,  86,  132,  141 

Decameron,  Boccaccio's,  drawn 

from,  35,  60 

Deer-stealing,  not  accounted 

bad,  83,  84,  102 

Departure  for  London,  86,  130 


[2Uj 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


PAGE 


De  Quincey,  Thomas,  quoted, 


26,66 

Deserted  Village,  Goldsmith's 

^ 

quoted  from. 

207 

Devecmon,      William      C, 

able  lawyer. 

82 

Devil,     the,     honored     as 

monarch. 

173,  206 

Devil,  Milton  just  to? 

173 

Devil,  pitied  by  Burns! 

172.  173 

Devils,   little   ones,    Milton 

toward. 

173 

Dewey,  Orville,  quoted. 

24,  48 

Diana  Enemorada,  Jorge  de 

Montemayor's, 

53,  59 

Dickens,  Charles,  his  Mark 

Tapley, 

26,  27 

his  Micawber, 

19,95 

fruitfulness. 

205 

Dictionary    of    Quotations, 

Stoddard's, 

191,  208 

Differentiation  in  meanings, 

26.49 

Differentiation  of    national 

traits. 

189 

Dogberry,     father     of     all 

*  Malaprops,'            19,  38, 

187,  188 

Double    comparatives    and 

superlatives. 

51 

Double    negatives = an     af- 

firmative? 

51 

Doyle,     Mr.     John     T.     on 

Central  Am.  courts,        82 

,  83,  100 

Dowdall,     John,      traveler. 

quoted. 

94 

Drama,  the  classic. 

174 

Dreams  of  soldiering. 

120,  121 

Dromios,  the  two. 

164 

Dryden,  John,  quoted.       38 

,  73,  191 

Dyaks    of     Borneo,    defec- 

tive language  of. 

28 

Earl  of  Warwick's  apology 


for  '  Hal,' 


31,  SO,  100 


East  India  Company's    first 

charter,  97 

Education  of  S.     .\vailable 

means  for,  22,  23 


PAGE 

Education,  the  best  and  only 

real,  99 

Electra  of  Sophocles,  com- 
ment on,  32,  33,  51 

Eliot.  Charles  W.    His  five- 
foot  shelf,  58,  59 

Elizabethan  age,  most  won- 
derful, 89,  112,  113 

Elizabeth,    Queen,    at    the 

bar  of  History,  156,  157 

Elizabeth's  speech  at  West 

Tilbury.  147 

Emerson,    R.    W.,    once    a 

school-teacher,  73 

Emerson  on  brain  of  Plato 

and  S.,  quoted,  191 

Emerson,   on  originality  of 

S.,  quoted,  161 

Emotion    and    passion,    in- 
tense expression  of,  192-201 

English,  mastei-y  of,  by  S.,  28,  30,  167 

Environment,  fitting,  made 

or  colored  by  S.,  167 

Epitaph  of /Eschylus,  quoted,  148 

Epitaph  on  S.,  by  Milton.  204 

Epitaph     on    wife     of     S., 

quoted,  93 

Epithets.     Those  of  S.  and 
^schylus,  33 

Equality,  All   men's   recog- 
nized, 199 

Escapades  of  S.,  easily  ex- 
plained, 53 

Etymologies,      studied      by 

S.?  30 

Euphronius,    tutor   in    Anl. 

and  Clc.  Tl.  78 

Euphues,  John   Lyly's;    its 
influence,  88?  103 

Euphuism,  a  fad  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan age,  103 

Euripides,  drawn  from,  33 

Evans.    Sir    Hugh.    Welsh 

schoolmaster,  76, 97 

Evil     spirits     invoked     by 

Lady  Macbeth,  198,  199 

Experiments  in  phraseology,  103 


[212] 


Index 


PAGE 


Fairy  machinery  introduced 
by  S.,  176, 

Falslaff  and  Equity, 

Falstaff,  prince  of  comic 
characters,  31, 

running  _away, 

Falstaff  on  emptiness  of 
false  honor, 

Faulconbridge  (Philip),  pa- 
triotism of. 

Felicity  in  speech,  a  con- 
stant aim,  26 

Fencing,  technical  terms  in, 

Ferdinand  and  Miranda, 

Ferdinando    Stanley,    Lord 

Strange, 
Flight?    from  Stratford, 
Florizel  and  Perdita, 
Fool     in    Lear    wiser    tlian 

philosophers? 
Four-fold     combination     in 

sentence, 
French  used  fluently  by  S., 
French's  Genealogica  Shakc- 

spereana, 
Fulman,   Rev.  William,   an 

authority. 


Game     laws     in     England, 

more  stringent, 
Genius  defined. 
Genius  in  action. 
Genius  of  S.,  for  labor, 
Genius,  physical  basis  of. 
Ghost  in  Hamld,  86, 

Gilbert,      Sir      Humphrey, 

Quoted, 
Goethe's  ideal  in  childhood? 
Goethe,  quoted. 
Goldsmith.  Oliver,  Quoted, 
Gonzalo's  intrusion  checked, 
Goodrich,     Cliauncey     A.. 

author, 
Gothic  art  complex? 

Gower,  John,   '  the  moral,' 
quoted. 


177, 

178 

99 

172, 

187 

41 

125 

131 

.49. 

103 

116, 

117 

193. 

194 

73 

1,  96 

86 

195, 

196 

208 

181- 

-185 

23 

46 

102 

84 

24 

42 

24 

109 

102, 

,  133 

149 

'   57,  58 

191 

207 

. 

199 

1S4 

174 

161 

65,94 

PAGE 

Grammar,   De   Quincey   on 

defective,  26 

Grammar  school  at  Strat- 
ford, 22.  23,  47 

Grammar    school,    English, 

curriculum.  47,  48 

'  Gratification  '    ( = honora- 
rium?), 100 

Gray,  Thomas,  quoted,  xii,    182,  183 
'  Great  House  '    or    '  New 

Place."   of  S.,  95 

Greek  coined  into  English. 32,  33,  51 
Greek  Drama,  origin  of?  41 

Greek  idioms  in  S..  51 

Greek  phraseology  trans- 
lated? 33,  50,  51 

'  Greek,    small    Latin    and 

less.'  23,  31.  33,  50 

Greene,  Robert,  dramatist, 

161,  176.  205 

his   sneer  at   S.,   quoted 

and  examined,  205 

Gregorian  calendar,  45 


'  Hal.'    Intimacy  with  Fal- 
staff, why?  31,  50 
Hal's  reformation,                     50,  100 

Hales     of     Eaton.       '  ever 

memorable.'   quoted.  191 

Hallam.    Henry,    historian. 

his  opinion,  166,  176,  178 

Halliwell-Phillipps.    High 

authority.  46.  61,  95.  96,  101 

Halliwell-Phillipps,  quoted.         16.  95 

Hamlet,  drama  of.   quoted 
from,  29.  81,  206 

Hamlet,  elder.  King  of  Den- 
mark, 133 

Hamlet,  younger,  prince  of 

Denmark.  1)3 

Haranet  and  Judith,  twins 

born  to  S.,  83,  13S 

Handkerchief,  Othello's  fatal, 

34,  35,  52 

Handwriting,  Hamlet's,  fine 

in  his  youth.  155 

Handwriting  of  John  S..  43 


[213] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


PAGE 

Handwriting  of  S..  155 

Happy  marriage  of  S.?  66-69 

Harrington,  John,  Transla- 
tion of  Ariosto  (1591),  35 
Hathaway  cottage  at  Shot- 

terv'.  60,  63,  66,  67.  71.  93 

Hathaway,    Anne,    possible 

pupil  of  S.?  78,  79 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  esti- 
mate of  S.,  189 

Heavens,  if  friendly,  invoked 

by  Lear,  200 

Heirloom  in  the  Hathaway 

cottage,  61 

Henry  IV,  Part  1,  120,  153 

Henr>'  V.    Favorite  king  of 

S.,  101,  122,  123,  124 

HenPv'  VIII  stops  the  Strat- 
ford school,  47 

Hippology  in  S.,  115,  152 

'  Hold    the    mirror    up     to 

nature,'  99 

Holden,     Edward     S.,     on 

vocabularies,  48,  49 

Holinshed's   Chronicle   His- 
tories, 59,  93 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  135 

Holophernes,  pedantic  teacher 

in  L.  L.  L.,  76 

Homer,   poet,   once   school- 
master? 72,  73 

Homer,  quoted,  151 

Homer's      words      literally 

translated  by  S.,  33 

Honor,    false;      its    bubble 

pricked?  125,  126.  127,  128 

Honor,    true,    its    essential 

nature,  126 

Horse,     '  a    department    of 

theology,'  152 

Horse.     Murray's  The  Per- 
fect Horse,  115,  152 

Horses  and  horse  worshipers,         152 
Hortensio,  music  teacher  in 

Tarn,  of  Shrew,  77 

Hotspur's  dreams,  120 

honor.  126,  136,  137 

Hugo,  Victor  178,  191 


Hyphened   words  in   S.,   to 
be  noted, 


PAGE 


52 


lago  in  Othello,  166 

Ideal  of  love,  65,  66 
Identity.    S.  parts  with  his 

own,  164 

Iliad,  Homer's,  drawn  from,      33,  51 

Image,  ingredient  in   a  sen- 
tence, 180 

Imageri',  abundant  in  Bacon, 

more  in  S..  184 

Imagination,  most  exuberant 

before  1601?  176.  178,  179 

Imagination,      most      pro- 
found after  1601?  176 

Impulse,    threefold,    persis- 
tent? 87 

Impecuniosity  of   S.,   over- 
stated? 94 

Industry  of  S.,  attested.  87 

Industr>',  demonstrated,  38,  39 

Insight,   keen  and  compre- 
hensive, 164,  165,  171.  205,  206 

Insight,  profound  philosophical, 

188,  205 

Intensity,   characteristic   of 

genius,  192 

Intensity  in  S.,  rarely  paral- 
leled, 192-198 
'  Invincible  Armada,'  146 
Invocation     of    devils,       bv 

Lady  Macbeth,  198,  199 

Inwardness,  the  true,  seen 
dearly  by  S.,  205 

Isabella  in  M.  for  M.,  197,  198 

Italian  language,  knowledge 

of  by  S.?  23,  34,  35,  36,  52 

Italian  origin  of  five  plays,  53 


Jacques-pierre  «=  Shakespeare? 

17 

James,   King,     pleased  with 
dramas  of  S., 

154 

James's    '  Servants     of    the 
King  '   licensed. 

96 

Jesting, 

142 

John  of  Gaunt,    Outburst  of 
patriotism. 

131 

[214] 


Index 


Johnson,  Gerard,  maker  of 

the  S.  bust,  102 

Johnson,  Jesse,  Judge,  37 

Johnson,  Samuel,  quoted,  74,  75 

Johnson  regrets  charity   to 

devils,  17J,  174 

Joke  and   deer  carried   too 

far,  85 

Jonson,  Ben,  lover  of  S.,  202 

quoted,  31,  51 

Jonson,  Ben,  prolific  author 

of  comedies,  56 

Jonson's  splendid  praise  of 

S.  in  Folio  I,  56 

Jorge  de  Montemayor,  au- 
thor of  1,500  plays?  36 

also  of  the  Spanish  Diana 
Enamorada}  53,  59 

Juliet     in    Rom.     and     J., 

intense,  185 

June's    rare    days    described 

by  Lowell,  170 

Jurisdiction  of  Venice  court, 

fourfold?  99,  100 

Jurors  in  Stratford,  19 

Justice,   Chief,  Sir  William 

Gascoigne,  171 

to  Falstaff,  171,  172,  187 

Justice  Shakespeare  in  Strat- 
ford, 46 

Katherine,  French  princess.  34 

Katherine,  Queen,  in  Henry 

VIII.  196 

Kemp,   William,   dancer  of 
jigs,  139-141,  156 

quoted,  140 

Kenilworth      Castle,      resi- 
dence of  Leicester,  144 
'  princely  pleasures  of  '                177 

King  Henry,  quoted?  180,  207 

King  Henry  V,  favorite  of 

S.,  123 

Kingly  parts  played  by  S.,  102 

'  King's  Servants,'  company 
of  S..  96 

Kingsley's  Westward  Ho,  129 


PAGE 

Knave,  true  meaning  of, 

138.  144,  145,  156 

Knowledge,  displayed  in  the 

S.  plays,  90,  171 

how  acquired,  171 

Laboratory  process  in  brain 

of  S.,  186 

Lady   Leicester,   the   Earl's 

wife,  139,  144 

Lady  Macbeth.     Her  dark 

design,  167,  168 

Lady    Sidney,    Sir    Philip's 

wife,  138.  144 

L' Allegro,  Milton's,  quoted,  203 

Lamb.  Charles,  quoted,  142 

Lampoon  on  Sir  Thomas's  park 

gate,  85 

Language  form,  peculiar  in 

S.?  179 

Lapse    into    poverty,    by 

John  S.,  39.  40 

Later  plays  (i.  e.,  after  1601) 

greater?  138-192,  207 

Latin,  as  taught  in  school,  23 

Latin,  knowledge  of  by  S., 

30.  31.  34,  50,  52 

Latin  recitation  by  '  sprag  ' 

boy,  97 

Latin  taught  to  Bianca,  78,  79 

Law  in  court  scene  in  Mer.  of 

V.  99,  100 

Law,  knowledge  of  by  S.,  79,  80 

Lawrence,  James,  quoted,  149 

Lear,  passion  in,  199-201 

Learning  in  S.,  23 

Lee,  Sidney.    His  Life  of  S.. 

2i,  45,  46,  61,  96 

Legalism  in  S.,  81,  113 

Legal    terminology,    alleged 

blunders  in,  82 

Leicester,  Lord,  88 

Leicester's  Company  of  actors,       96 
Leicester's  soldiering, 

115.  116,  134.  135.  138.  144 
L€onidas,  149 


[215] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


PAGE 

Librar>-  of  S.,  small  but  select, 

58.  59 
License  to  marry,  discovered,  93 

Lichas,  thrown  from  top  of 

Mt.  CEta.  173 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  studying  by 

firelight,  44 

Lineage  of  S.,  how  far  known,         17 

Lineage.     Saxe  on  American,  45,  46 

Literary  men  in  Elizabethan 

age,  208 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  quoted,  206 

Lope  de  V'ega's  fruitfulness.  205 
Lovers  and  madmen  coupled 

in  M.  N.  D.,  62 

Lowell,  J.  R.,  opinion  of.  33,  38 

quoted.  17.  25.  32,  90,  173,  188,  189 
modestly  mistaken?  169,  170 

Lucentio,    how    he    taught 

Latin,  78,  79 

Luces = pikes  (fishes)  or  pecu- 

lida,  101,  102 

Lucian's  Greek  Dialogues,  32 

Lucifer  alias  Satan  alias  Zimi- 

mar?  206 

Lucy,   Sir  Thomas = Justice  9 

Shallow?  83-86 

Lucy's  deer  preserve, 

83,  84.  101,  102 

Lyly,   John,   romancer  and 

dramatist,  author  of  Euphues,     103 


Mab,  queen   of  fairies,  her 

pranks.  121 

Mabie,  Hamilton  W.,  author.  2.^ 

Macbeth,  castle  of.  167,  168 

Macbeth.  Lady,  her  subjec- 
tive  intensity,      167,  168,  198,  199 
Maginn,    William,    ansv.-ers 

Farmer,  36 

MaJapropisms  of  Dogberry 

and  his  ilk,  19,  38,  187,  188 

Malone,  Edmund,  80 

Manningham,  John,-  quoted.  97 

Marina,  tempest-born  in  Peri- 
cles. 197 


PAGE 

Marriage   of   S.   and    Anne 
Hathaway, 

60,  61.  63.  65,  69,  93.  132 

Marsh.  Dr.  G.  P..  on  num- 
ber of  words.  48 

his  method  of  counting.  49 

Massinger,  Philip,  dramatist, 

quoted,  42 

Masters.  Stratford  grammar- 
school.  93 

Meanings  condensed  or  dif- 
ferentiated, 26.  49 

MencBChmi  of  Plautus,  30,  50 

Mfzigres,  Alfred,  French  scholar, 
(1860),  191 

Mer.  of  Venice,  source  of.  35 

Micawber,  Wilkins,  Dickens's, 

19,71 

Mrs.    Micawber   lovingly 
threatens.  71 

Midsummer  Night's  Dream, 

White's  characterization.  176 

Military  ambition  and  ardor. 

134.  135.  145,  148 

Military  life  affording  equip- 
ment. 113-116 

Milton.  John.  25,  36.  48.  203 

quoted, 
70,  162,  170,  173,  174,  182,  203,  204 

his  devil  and  other  characters 
phases  of  Milton?  164 

Milton's  great  epitaph  on  S.,  204 

Milton's  ideal?  57,  58 
Milton's  Music,  described  by 

Tennyson,  193 

Miranda,  166 

Miranda,  Latin.  30 

Miranda  and  Ferdinand.        193,  194 

Mirror  help  up  to  nature  by 

S..  99 

Mohammed,  soldier-author,  112 

Moli^re,  J.  B.  P.,  quoted.  53 

Mommsen.  Theodor.  quoted.         111 

Money  values,  then  and  now,         95 

'  Moral  Gower.'  quoted.  65.  94 

Morgan.  Appletou.  S.  scholar, 

author,  23,  36,  37,  18,  82 

quoted,  45 


[216] 


Index 


PAGE 

'  Morris  dance,'  by  Kemp 

in  1600.  156 

Moses,  soldier-author,  109 

Moses,  Song  of,  ItO 
Murray,  W.  H.  H.,                  115,  152 

Moth,  page  in  L.  L.  L.,  76 

Music,  '  food  of  love,'  64,  94 
Myriad-minded;    Coleridge's 

phrase,  166 


Name,  familiarly  abbreviated,  141 

Name,  S.,  how  spelled,  45 

for  short,  45 
Nature,     imagined     intelli- 
gently  sympathetic,    and 

participating,  167 

Navigation,  knowledge  of  by 

S.,  114,  152 

Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  110 

Newton.  John,  quoted,  180;  207 

Nicaragua,  court  usages  in, 

82,  83.  100 

Niceties  in  language,  26,  49,  10.5 

Nobility    and    gentry    with 
Leicester,  135,  154 


Observation,    minute,   illus- 
trated,                           171,  172,  206 

'  Oceanic  intellect.'     Cole- 
ridge's phrase,  166 

Odyssey,     Homer's,     drawn 

from,  41 

quoted,  151 

CEdipus  Coloneus  of  Sopho- 
cles, 5 1 

Organism,  each  play  an?  163 

Olivia  in  Twelfth  Night ,  63 

Originality  of  S.;    in  what? 

162,  163,  205 

Orlando  Furioso  of  Ariosto,  35 

Orlando  Inamorato  of  Berni,  35,  52 

Orlando  of  Boiardo,  52 

Orsino,    Duke,    in     Twelfth 

NigSU,  63 

Othello,  story  of,  34.  35 


PAGE 


Outlines,   Life  of  S.,   Halli- 
well-Philipps's, 

16.  46.  61.  95,  96,  101 
Ovid,  favorite  poet  of  S..     31,  50,  59 


Page,  William,  author's  an- 
cestor? 


97 


Paradise  Lost,  quoted  from 

162.  170,  173,  174,  182 

Parma,  Duke  of.  146,  147 

Patriotism  in  S..  131 

Pectdidce;    vestimenli;  Ang- 

lice,  lice,  85,  101 

Pedagogy,  art  of.  72,  73 

Penmanship  of  S.,  155 

Personification    in     a    sen- 
tence, 181-183 

Personifications,  multitudin- 
ous, 185,  186 
Pet  names,  abbreviations,  141 

Philip  II  of  Spain,  146 

Philosophical    Inquiry,    Ed- 
mund Burke's,  179.  207 
Physical  basis  of  genius,  109 
'  Phrase-monger,'  was  S.?        49,  103 

'  Physician   or    fool    at  40,' 

proverb,  114,  152 

Pity,  tenderness  of,  47 

Place,  Unity  of.  often  dis- 
regarded in  S.,  175,  176 

Plagiarism  charged?  161 

Plato's  brain,   Emerson   on 

nestling  in,  191 

Plautus's  Menmchmi,  30,  50 

Plots,   not  often  originated 

by  S..  162 

Plutarch's  Lives,  49.  59.  93 

Poaching    on    Lucy's    deer 

preserve.  83-85,  101,  102 

Poe,  Edgar  A.,  quoted,  168 

Poetic  gymnastics,  a  kind  of?  103 

Points  of  superiority,  202 

Polonius's  classification  quoted.  175 

Pope,  Alexander;     his  chosen 
vocation.  58 

Povertv.     John     S.     lapses 
into?  39,  40 


[.217J 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


PAGE 

Practical  wisdom  of  S.,  190-192 

Private  tutors,  termed  school- 
masters? 77,  78 
Prose  in  S.,                               28,  29,  49 
Protest  against  influx  of  new 

words,  50 

Proverbs  in  S.,  191,  192 

Pun  on  name  Will,  141,  142 

Puns  in  S.,  103 

Charles  Lamb's  dictum,  142 

Puritan  poet,  203 

Pythagoras,  72 

Queen  Elizabeth,  arraignment 

of  by  Goldwin  Smith,         156,  157 

Quince.  Peter,  in  Midsum- 
mer Night's  Dream,  98 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  soldier- 
author,  112 
Ralph  Roister  Doister,  98 
Randolph,  John,  storj'  told 

of,  96 

Randolph,  Thomas,  quoted,  70 
Rank,  ignored  aboard  ship 

in  tempest,  199 
Recruits,    Falstaff's,    Mouldy, 

BuUcalf,  etc..  153 

Reed,  Edwin.  49 

Regan,  daughter  of  Lear,  200 

Reputation,  precious,  125 

Richard  II.  119 

Richard  III.  166 

Rolfe.  W.  J..  23 

Root  meanings  of  words,     30,  32,  75 
Rosalind   to  Orlando  in  .\. 

Y.  L.  L,  62 
Rowe,    Nicholas,    first    bi- 
ographer   of    S..      48,  83,  132.  133 

Rumor,  allegorical,  166 
Ryan,  Abram  J.,  quoted,        181.  207 

Sacrificial  goat  in  dawn  of 

drama,  41,  53 

Saint  Crispin's  Day,  126 


PAGE 

Satan,  honored  as  monarch,  173 

pitied  by  Burns,  172 

quoted  in  Paradise  Lost,  182 

location  of.  207 

Saxe,  J.  G..  stanzas  quoted,  45,  46 

Schlegel,  A.  W.  von.  quoted,  144 

School,    old-fashioned,    un- 
loved, 77 

*  School  '   wrongly    changed 

to  shoal  in  Macbeth?  97 

Schools,   importance  of  rec- 
ognized, 75,  76 

School-keeping,  70,  71,  72 

Schoolmaster  with  but  one 

pupil,  77,  78 

was  S.  such?  71-79 

Schoolmaster  lore,  74 

methods,  97,  98 

School-teachers,  greatest  and 

smallest,  72,  73,  93 

Scott,  Walter,  childhood  as- 
piration, 36 
'  Second-best  bed,'  67 
Scour se  of  Folly,  quoted  from.       141 
Scourge  of  Villainy,  Marston's.      156 
Sea-kings.  English.                           152 
Self-effacement  by  S.,                      164 
Sentence  form.                                  179 
building.                                 179-182 
Sentiment,  often  important,           181 
Shakespeare,   etymology   of 

the  word.  17.  18 

Shakespeare.  John,  father  of 

S..  18,  39.  46 

offices  held  by  him.  19.  20 

lapse.  39.  40 

Shakespeare,  William,   pas- 
sim, his  possible  motive, 

43,  57,  87-90 

Shakespeares,  earliest  mention 

of.  17,  45 

Shallow.    Justice,    in    Mer. 

W.  of  W.  85 

SheUey.  P.  B..  206 

Shottery.  Hathaway  cottage 

at.  93 

Sibyl,  original  of  that  in  S.,  52 


[218] 


Index 


PACB 

Siddons,  '  the  incomparable," 

Sarah,  33 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  88 

soldier-author,  112,  115,  129. 

130,  134,  138,  155 

Silence  as  to  S.  for  several 

years,  138,  145 

'  Singe  the  king  of    Spain's 

beard,"  152 

Sir  Launfal,  Lowell's,  quoted, 

from,  170 

Snitterfield,  21,  40 

Soldier-authors,  109-113 

Soldier     stage     next     after 

lover"s,  121 

Soldier's  name  honorable,       124,  125 

Soldier's  peculiar  talk,  117-120 

'  Small  Latin  and  less  Greek,"         SO 

Smith,  Goldwin,  quoted,        156,  157 

Song  of  Moses,  quoted  from,         110 

Sophocles,  author  of   great 

tragedies,  152 

quoted,  51 

his  fruitfulness,  205 
Spanish  language,  knowledge 

ofbyS.?  36,53 

Specialization,  extreme,  dan- 
ger of,  152 

'  Sprag  '    boy,    William  Page, 

76,  97 

Sprague,       Charles,       poet, 

quoted,  95,  97 

Sprague,   William,   author's 

ancestor?  97 

Steevens,  George,  80 

Stoddard,  R.  H.,  on  quo- 
tations, 208 

Strange,  Lord = Ferdinand© 
Stanley,  his  company  of 
players,  73,  96 

Stratford  on  Avon.  18 

Studies   in    Eng.    Grammar 

schools,  47,  48 

Subjectivity,  singular  power 

in  S.,  167-171 

inverted  or  transferred,  184 

Susannah     S.,     Mrs.     John 

Hall.  68.  83 


FAOB 

'  Swears  a  prayer  or  two,'      121,  153 

■  Sweating  sickness,'  or 
'  the  plague  '?  mortality 
in,  20,  46 

'  Sweet  little  man,'  O.  W. 

Holmes's,  135,  136 

Swift,  Dean,  on  accumu- 
lated learning,  37 

Symmons,      Dr.      Charles, 

quoted,  160 

Taine,  Henri,  190 

Tapley,  Mark,  quoted,  27 

Tarleton,      Dick,      Kemp's 

predecessor,  140,  156 

Tenderness  of  pity,  47 

Tennyson,  Alfred,  quoted,       70,  193 

his  life-work,  58 

Thousand-souled,    Hallam's 

estimate  of  S.,  166 

Thersites,  deformed  tongue- 

stabber,  165 

Three  purposes  cherished  by 

S.?  58,  87,  89,  103 

Three  careers  for  enterpris- 
ing youths,  121 

Three    Unities    observable 

in  dramas,  174.  175 

Tickle  o'  the  sere.            118,  152.  153 

Time,  personified.  166 

Time  for  marriage,  63 

Time,  Unity  of,  disregarded 

by  S.,  175 

Timon  of  Athens.     Its  founda- 
tion, 32 

Toleration,  perfect  in  S.,  172,  173 

carried  too  far?  173,  174 

Tragedy  and  comedy  mixed 

in  a  play,  174,  175 

Tragedy    of    S.        Milton's 

opinion,  203 

Tricks,  verbal  and  vocal,  98 

Troilus  in    Tro.   and   Cres., 

deluded,  63 

Truancy,  evil  of,  recognized 

by  S.,  75,  76 

Truth,  the  main  ingredient 

in  sentence,  179 


[219] 


Studies  in  Shakespeare 


PAGE 


18 


Turchills,  a  Saxon  family, 
Twenty-five     good     women 

named  in  S.,  68,  95 

Udall.  Nicholas,  73.  08 

Unities,  the  three,  174,  175 

Universities,     why     learned 

places;   Swift's  sarcasm,  37 

'  Upstart  crow.'  Greene's  ugly 

phrase,  161 

Verb,  any  word  turned  into 

by  S.,  27,  28 

Vergil's  stelerunt  comee,  51 

Viola  in  T'^jelfth  Night,  63,  64 

Virgin-Martyr,  Massinger's, 

quoted,  42 

Vocabulary,  vastness  of,  25 

Rare  words  used  by  S.,  25,  26 

Voltaire,  Goethe's  estimate 

of.  190 

Voltaire's    estimate    of    S., 

quoted,  190 

Wall    map    showing    Indies 

enlarged,  97 

Walsingham.  Sir  Francis,  134.  138 

War,  S.  opposed  to,  122,  123 

his  martial  ardor,  123 

Warren,  Joseph,  quoted,  148 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  to  Henr>- 

IV,  31,  50,  100 

War\vickshire,  1 7 

its  dialect,  48 

Webster,     Daniel,     once     a 

schoolmaster,  quoted,  96 

Webster,   John,   quoted   as 

to  industry  of  S.,  87 

Weighty  meanings  condensed 
by  S.. 

Wendell,  Barrett,  26.  49.  103 

'  Werb  '  defined    by    Mark 
Tapley,  27 

Whipple,  E.  P.,  on  method 
of  S.,  189.  190 


PAGE 

Wliite.  Richard  Grant, 

51,    52,    53,    61,    66.   67,    85.    161, 

176,  206 

Whitney,  W,  D..  quoted,  28,  48 

Whittier,    John    G.,     once 

schoolmaster,  73 

'Wiir=S.  138,145 

Will    and    testament,    last, 

of  S.,  67,  94 

William,  etymology  of   the 

name?  18 

William  of  Orange,  134 

Wilmcote,  18.  21 

Wilson,      Woodrow,       once 

schoolmaster,  73 

Wisdom,  practical,  shown  by 

S.,  190,  191 

Wit  and  humor,  extraordin- 
ary, 143.  187,  188 

Wolsev,  Cardinal,  in  Henry 

Vlil,  196 

Women  actors,  the  earliest 

in  theatres,  27,  49 

Women  in  S.,  morally  bet- 

ber  than  men?  68,  95 

Women,    love    of,    an    in- 
spiration in  L.  L.  L.,  98,  99 

Word  coining  by  S.,30,  32,  47.  50,  51 

Words  and  ideas  seemingly 

identical  in  S..  49,  103 

Wordsworth,  Bishop  Charles, 

on  Bible  in  S.,  37 

Wordsworth,    William, 

quoted,  107 

his  life  work,  58 

'  Writ,'  '  wist,'  or  '  woo'd  '?  94 

Xcnophon,  soldier-author,  152 

Xenophon's  Anabasis,  echoed 

in  S.?  51,  154 

Yale    Law    Journal,    article 

in,  82 

Zimimar,   roval   devil   in    / 

Henry  VH  173,  206 


[220] 


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